‘When in Rome’, currently at the RIBA in London, explores the eternal city’s ongoing architectural inspiration

If Berlin is the perfect urban palimpsest of twentieth-century history, then Rome can lay claim to much of the previous two millennia. ​’When in Rome: A Collective Reflection upon the Eternal City’ (RIBA London, until 8th Oct) pays homage to the city’s inspiration on generations of architects, exploring whether “an architecture born from a deep reflection on tradition can produce something new”, in this instance through a generation of architects born in the 1980s.

‘When in Rome’ combines between two earlier exhibitions: ‘Re Constructivist Architecture’ (from New York’s Ierimonti Gallery) with 13 international practices presenting a residential project for the Roman countryside (including Genoa collective False Mirror Office’s ‘Zupa Romana’ project, shown below); and ‘Unbuilt Rome’ (previously at Rome’s Campo Space) which explores the idea of the city through unrealised projects designed for Rome by nine Italian architectural offices.

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