The concentration of valued archaeological sites has made it difficult for Rome to balance preservation and modernisation. In more extreme cases, Rome’s heritage issue can hinder post-disaster reconstruction, in which remnants of destroyed historic buildings are seen as valuable but too obsolete to reuse, causing them to lie stagnant in warehouses around the city. The Authorised Heritage Discourse views built heritage as nature, framing the material past as a non-renewable resource to be discovered and ‘conserved as found’. Using Donna Haraway’s concept of ‘naturecultures’, historic remnants that have become stagnant parts of Rome’s landscape can instead be understood as tools to facilitate the cultural process of heritage.

Thus, the project seeks a way of responding to the ruin of the Baths of Titus that goes beyond mere preservation. The design proposes a combined visitor centre and school for conservation research that negotiates between the visitor and the historic site. The ruin itself is deconstructed and re-purposed, forming a heritage strategy of ‘care without conservation’. Taking a considered approach, the facing bricks above the decayed core are mapped and salvaged, resolving the risk of collapse while providing an opportunity for material research and re-use.

The proposed building will carry out this process of brick harvesting, assuming the role of an independent ‘caretaker’ that gradually assimilates salvaged parts of the ruin into its fabric. A mobile ruin harvesting structure is devised to slide slowly along the wall and collect fragments where required. The building becomes a working site of constant movement, disassembly and reuse, showcasing experimental developments in the field of heritage conservation, akin to a ‘gallery’ of modern heritage care. The ruin is thus harnessed as a cultural tool that speculates on the creation of living – rather than stagnant – built heritage.