Nanomaterials in Architecture,Interior Architecture and Design - Ara Pacis Museum - Rome, Italy

ARCHITECTURE: Richard Meier & Partners, New York, NY, USA
CLIENT: Comune di Roma, Rome, Italy
PRODUCT: Lotusan, self-cleaning paint (Lotus-Effect)
MANUFACTURER: Sto
OPENED: 2006
...
After ten years of construction and political debate, the
Ara Pacis Museum is now home to an archaeological
highlight in Rome. The Ara Pacis Augustae, a sacrificial
altar that was inaugurated by the Emporer Augustus
himself, was given a new container that remedies the
environmental as well aesthetic deficits of the previous
pavilion from 1938 in which the monument was formerly
kept. A tripartite building complex has been created
on the banks of the River Tiber, whose urban form
now fits in with the historic centre of Rome, and which
connects antiquity with the modern. The complex consists
of an entrance gallery with an urban square in
front, the main building with the exhibits, conference
rooms and restaurant as well as further areas with
space for temporary exhibitions, library and offices.
The monument itself, the "Pax Augusta", is now contained
within a transparent glazed part of the building
and protected against damage from the environment.
The remainder of the building is characterised by large
blocks of travertine, typical for Rome, and surfaces clad
in white, as is typical for Meier's architecture. Here a
self-cleaning coating has been invisibly integrated into
the white surfaces to ensure the durability of their
colour. In the heavily polluted city, it would not otherwise
have stood much chance of remaining white for
long.