MATERIAL MEMORY / Rome, Italy, 2013–2017

The project transforms a former orphanage into a mixed-use guest house for the Order of Minor Friars. It works with the building’s layered histories, activating a quiet architecture of hospitality and care. Shared spaces open to the street, guest rooms rise above, and a small rooftop chapel overlooks a productive garden.

The surrounding orchards are not ornamental. They feed the kitchen, the restaurant, and the community. This short cycle of production and consumption creates a metabolic connection between soil, architecture, and daily life. Food is grown, cooked, and shared on site, reducing waste, circulation, and emissions.

Here, landscape becomes a living infrastructure — soft, slow, and porous. It anchors memory in the ground and sustains everyday rituals rather than monumental gestures.

Credits
Client: Revalue, Milan
Project Architect and Interior Designer: Cristiana Cutrona
Landscape Architecture: Giuseppina Forte, Riccardo Vannucci, Francesco Salvolini, Cecilia Zeta, Andrea Sirna
Structures: Agamennone & Cera, Rome
Systems: Arup, Milan