The Celio project is a multi-use facility adjacent to the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. The project called for a residential, office, and retail space to replace a public park in the Celio neighborhood. The project presented an opportunity to meet the client's programmatic needs while preserving the existing public space of the park and enhancing it with additional community-minded program pieces.

The design begins with a spatial analysis of the types of public spaces surrounding the building site. This site analysis leads to the placement of the building along the eastern edge of the triangular site in order to maintain the greatest square footage of public space possible, while the removed public space is replaced by a publicly accessible green roof featuring a soccer field and lounging areas. Additional public space is created by sending the neighboring street, Via Claudia, underground. The facade of the building facing the public piazza space is a system of circulation spaces, ramps, stairs, catwalks, linking all of the floors and spaces of the interior. The purpose of this facade system is to humanize the architecture, extending the hustle and bustle of the ground plane below into the facade as a backdrop for the space.

Beyond the multi-use needs of the client, the community program added to the site includes a public pool, an outdoor movie and staging area, a restaurant, a market and local economy space, an art gallery, and public bathrooms.