A Palazzetto in Rome
This study of the Roman palazzo at Piazza di S. Salvatore in Lauro applies the building type to a small-scale, mixed-use structure. Rather than demolishing the historic school across the piazza to design a grand palazzo, the more modest scale defines the newly-formed piazzetta by filling the missing corner of the urban plan. The three-story loggia of the primary façade allows light to penetrate the intimate courtyard. The stair occupies the darkest part of the building and acts as a visual terminus. Harkening back to the 11th century iteration of the adjacent church, the plan emulates the more public courtyard and stair of the social medieval palazzetto rather than the protected courtyard and hidden stair of the more inward-looking Renaissance palazzo.
