A new methodology for reconstructing the building process. The case study of the new Hertziana library in Rome

The Hertziana Library is the Rome-based Italian art history research branch of the Max Planck organisation for the promotion of science in Munich1. It is located in the urban peninsula of the sixteenth-century district between the via Sistina and via Gregoriana, abutting Trinità dei Monti, near Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Stairs. The complex consists of a sequence of three buildings, side by side: the sixteenth-century palace of Federico Zuccari, designed by the famous painter as his atelier and home, expanded and remodelled over the centuries many times; the Neubau (New Building), an offspring of the old garden of Palazzo Zuccari following continuous, uncontrolled additions; and the nineteenth-century Palazzo Stroganoff. While the two historic buildings are used to house research workstations and offices, the Neubau contains the library, consisting of an immense legacy of about 27O,OOO volumes. The complete inadequacy of the building complex, from the viewpoint of fire safety, was confirmed in the mid-nineties when the Fire Department threatened to close it; furthermore, the impossibility of increasing its long-term book capacity eventually sounded the death knell of the building in 1994. In 1995 the management of the Max-Planck Institute decided on a programme of construction, calling for the demolition of the Neubau except for the historic facade, and the acquisition, through a limited competition, of a new project that would ensure compliance with modern safety standards as well as enhanced library capacity. The winner of the competition was the Spanish architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg.