How does a building meet the ground?
It seems simple enough at first glance. A hidden treasure sandwiched between two buildings; I even walked by it at first. I stood at the base of three stairs staring at Bramante’s Tempietto through an archway. The site seems obvious enough. It was situated in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio. A small, commemorative martyrium surrounded by stairs on each side. As I walked up the set of stairs and inside I quickly became aware of the complexity of this building when the grate at my feet revealed a lower room. Realizing there was much more to this small temple, I wanted to see what else was hiding and waiting to be discovered. I found a set of staircases on the backside going down. A small window on the first floor seamlessly connected to the lower room. I walked down the stairs; the room was almost identical to the one above it, except the altar was on the opposite end. This building encourages discovery and adventuring; it not only meets the ground but also speaks with it. The simple staircases are constantly interacting with the site above and below. Without it, I wouldn’t have found the buried secrets that were the Tempietto. Now I can only wonder, what else is down there?
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