Promenades rans Rome
Assembly Practices between Visions, Ruins and Reconstructions

The subject of the conference "Promenades dans Rome" will be the city in its role as an eternal archive of references for the practice and theory of architecture. Understood as a monumental Wunderkammer, Rome contains a marvellous patrimony of fragments ready to be recomposed in new architectures. But it also reveals the ways these fragments have been assembled over the millennia, becoming the largest and most complex work of art in the world.

EPFL school of architecture with the Istituto Svizzero di Roma organises a dialogue aims to offer a discussion on critical reading of urban phenomena prompted by the theory of art, in both its written form and the practical dimension of artistic production and manual technique. Scholars and researchers will produce an open reflection bringing together the specific contributions of their respective disciplines. The proposed open roundtable will address issues of Rome as "city built in fragments", "model of additive practice", "atlas of affinities" and "repertoire of analogies" through dialectical approach confronting history, theory, criticism, photography and architectural design. In this way, the city of Rome simultaneously constitutes the subject of any reflections and, through the history of its representations, its main theoretical and methodological reference.

Scholars, researchers, PhD students, architects, artists and photographers who are interested in contributing to the round table and final publication can send their application to Filippo Fanciotti (filippo.fanciottiepfl.ch) via email by June 1st, 2021.

The application should consist of an abstract of maximum 300 words—with pictures if needed—and a short biography of around 100 words. Proposals of any format and perspective are welcome, as long as they respond to the overall theme. The final contributions can be either textual or visual.

Reply and confirmation of acceptance will be sent via email by June 15, 2021.

Participation in the final roundtable will consist of a short, approximately 15-minute presentation, followed by an open discussion. Participation in person is preferred, but participation via internet connection is possible if general or individual conditions do not allow otherwise.


At the end of the seminar, a printed volume will be published collecting the material produced during the seminar and all the contributions selected for the final round table.

Selected speakers and contributors will have to cover their own travel and lodging expenses.