Mathare, one of Nairobi’s most densely populated informal settlements, houses 60% of the city’s population on just 5% of its land. Our project focuses on Mathare 4B. During a site visit, we spent time with the residents to understand their routines, frustrations, and aspirations. Collaborating with SDI (Slum Dwellers International) and the United Nations Office in Kenya, we integrated local and global insights.
Inspired by the Swahili term Tegemea (“to lean on”), our design employs an incremental housing strategy using Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks. An ICEB infrastructure wall forms the community’s backbone, integrating utilities and evolving into residential units. The ground floor hosts rental spaces for shops and businesses. Public amenities like shared bathrooms, bike storage, and communal areas promote social interaction.
Mathare, one of Nairobi’s most densely populated informal settlements, houses 60% of the city’s population on just 5% of its land. Our project focuses on Mathare 4B. During a site visit, we spent time with the residents to understand their routines, frustrations, and aspirations. Collaborating with SDI (Slum Dwellers International) and the United Nations Office in Kenya, we integrated local and global insights.
Inspired by the Swahili term Tegemea (“to lean on”), our design employs an incremental housing strategy using Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks. An ICEB infrastructure wall forms the community’s backbone, integrating utilities and evolving into residential units. The ground floor hosts rental spaces for shops and businesses. Public amenities like shared bathrooms, bike storage, and communal areas promote social interaction.
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
Augustia
Pompeii Italy 2023
How can the integration of the Villa Augustea’s archaeological remains with a new museum and public square create a spatial dialogue between past and present, transforming a buried Roman site into a living cultural landscape?
The Augustea project unfolds as a continuous spatial narrative composed of three interdependent elements: the museum square, the museum, and the villa. The museum square serves as a civic and topographical threshold an open terrace that gathers visitors at the edge of the archaeological landscape and orients them toward Mount Vesuvius. From this point, the museum emerges from the slope as a mediating structure between the living city and the buried past. Its upper level, bright and porous, accommodates public and educational functions, while its lower level descends into a subdued, introspective corridor that gradually transitions from daylight to shadow, leading visitors into the ancient core.
At the culmination of this descent lies the villa, sheltered beneath a finely detailed canopy of steel, glass, and wood. Here, filtered light reveals the textures of stone, mosaic, and volcanic ash, allowing the visitor to encounter history as a living presence. Together, the villa, museum, and square compose a single architectural gesture a journey through time where landscape, memory, and architecture converge.
The villa is musealized through a system of canopies and elevated walkways, allowing visitors to explore without disturbing the archaeological remains.The museum is designed to take advantage of the natural slope of the hill, aligning its main entrance with the original Roman floor level. The section reveals a descent from the contemporary landscape into the buried Roman villa, where light, soil, and structure narrate the passage of time between past and present.
