Nolli in Translation
Nolli Analysis by Marielle Suba

Premise
After decades of poor maintenance and one major earthquake, the walls holding the Quirinale Hill from Trajan’s market collapses. The base of the hill slides down, leaving the site in a jumble of ruins. The Pontifical University at the top of the site is broken in half as one side crumbles and the other is left exposed. Torre dei Conti, a symbol of former majesty, is reduced to its foundations. Other residences and mixed use buildings are in need of repair. In an effort to salvage the neighborhood, temporary facilities are set up amidst the cleared ruins and work commences on rebuilding and reconnecting.

Proposal
The old Pontifical University loses its funding from the Vatican, causing the nuns and friars to abandon the school and the rundown church. A medical center (or hospital, scientific research institute) is put in its place, bridging the gap from the fallen site and the abandoned university. The former women’s college (to the right of the old university) is taken over into the new construction as well. The cloister is preserved and the prayer gardens become memorial gardens to honor those lost in the earthquake. The memorial gardens, theater, and church become areas of public access for commuting down the hill.

The mixed used buildings with isolated courtyards become large blocks with continuous interior courtyards, connected by new pedestrian streets.