Rome is one of the most active center for Contemporary Architecture in Italy.
Does it sound strange for the Eternal City?
If you think about the Roman architecture, you will definitely think about Colosseum, Fori Imperiali, Altare della Patria; incredible squares that are open-air museums like Piazza Navona and Piazza di Spagna; beautiful fountains like the Trevi Fountain and magnificent renaissance villas that preserve precious works of art; Saint Peter’s Basilica and other wonderful ancient churches at every corner of the city.

These and many other ancient wonders ensure that Rome is one of the most beautiful cities around the world, with many of the world’s cultural assets registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

But the eternal city is not only an ancient city.

However, beyond the Colosseum there is a fancy modern side of the urban city center. For the lovers of metropolitan architecture, here is a list of the best modern buildings in Rome.

Maxxi Museum of 21st Century Arts
-Via Guido Reni 4/A-
Zaha Hadid is the architect of this national center for contemporary art and architecture. She has perfectly integrated the building with the urban fabric to interpret the potential of the new institution and equipping it with an extraordinary sequence of public spaces.
The center goes beyond the usual concept of a museum, as the architect said “it’s not an object-container, but rather a campus for art”. The structure itself is a work of art.
Entering the atrium, you can immediately see the main elements of his project: curved walls, suspended black staircases, open ceiling catching natural light. Using these elements Zaha Hadid intended a new kind of spatiality of multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry, designed to embody the chaotic fluidity of modern life.
The complexity of the volumes and the variations and intersections of the levels determine a very rich spatial and functional configuration that visitors may pass through using the many different and unexpected routes. The large atrium houses the reception services and leads into the auditorium, the galleries destined for the permanent collections, the exhibitions and the spaces devoted to the cafeteria and the bookshop.
The Maxxi Museum is urban spot in an ancient city that is looking for its contemporary identity.

Auditorium Parco della Musica
-Via Pietro de Coubertin 30-
The Auditorium is a multi-functional complex mainly dedicated to music. The structure is composed of three “harmonic cases” that seem to resemble three big beetles. It includes three halls, an open-air amphitheater and many recording rooms.
The concert hall is located between the Tiber river and the Parioli hill and it is surrounded by vegetation, thus being outside the center it offers the advantage of being able to welcome easily a large public.
This complex is not only dedicated to music, but it also includes spaces for commercial, recreational, exhibition and study activities. Thus it involves the Archeological Museum, the Aristaios Museum, the Museum of the Instruments, the Multimedia Library and the Auditorium Arte.
The entire structure is designed to facilitate an easy access to people who have visual and motor disabilities, providing reserved seats in concert halls, fire-proof elevators, tactile maps and route-ways.

Macro – Museum of Contemporary Art
-Via Nizza 138-
The Macro is the most important museum of contemporary art in Rome. There are two main locations, one in Via Nizza and the other one at Testaccio. The first one was designed by the French architect Odile Decq who converted the old block of the Peroni brewery into a dynamic modern building, mainly dedicated to promoting the contemporary Italian and international art.
The architect integrated the museum into the city center, offering an urban space for exhibitions and recreation, including a great and large rooftop garden, a library and a restaurant.

Jubilee Church
-Largo Terzo Millennio 8-
The Jubilee Church, also known as Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordioso, was commissioned to Richard Meier (the same architect who designed the Museum of Ara Pacis in Rome) by the Vicaratio of Rome.It may seems a bit unusual to see a contemporary-style church in the Eternal City, but it is located in the eastern suburban area of Rome with the aim of giving value and attraction to the suburbs.
The building is composed by basic and simple elements such as the cube and the sphere and along with the light colors and the large windows they referred to purity and simplicity.
At the same time three imposing shells give the building that touch of modernity and movement that differentiate this church from all the other Roman churches.
In this way the church wants to demonstrate that religious spaces cannot be confined to ancient buildings but on the contrary this is the proof that contemporary architecture can have amazing effects on holy sites.

Eurosky Tower
-Viale Giorgio Ribotta 21-
Eurosky Tower is the first skyscraper in Rome, designed by the Italian architect Franco Purin. The structure of the building is substantially simple and it houses office spaces and residential units in its 27 floors. Within the other tower of the Europarco Business, they create a perfect gateway for the modern side of Rome.
The building is also relevant to modern architecture because it has the most innovative technologies and it is completely sustainable, fuelled by renewable resources.
The neighborhood EUR represents the newest part of the Eternal City, where contemporary and innovative buildings designed especially for corporate offices create a metropolitan space that wants to present Rome as an important city for both national and international businesses.