Auditorium Parco della Musica

Renzo Piano’s design for the city’s auditorium was just as fraught with controversy as Richard Meier’s Ara Pacis, but the final result was more successful. The building was scheduled to open in time for the Jubilee Year of 2000, but due to construction and political delays, the ground breaking finally took place in 2002. (One setback was the discovery of ruins just a few feet below.) The three concert halls seem to float, and have been compared to wood-clad scarabs. Piano said that his hope was to create a “cultural factory” for the city, and with programs that encompass film, theater, music and dance, even literary and science events, it seems to be fulfilling his vision. The curvilinear shapes are visible from afar, and their effect is as much an acoustic success as an aesthetic one. The best way to see it is to attend one of the almost nightly concerts in the three scarab-shaped halls.