The student center for the American Institute of Roman Culture occupies an archaeologically significant parcel near the Largo di Torre Argentina in the heart of Rome's historic center. The design maintains a deliberately small footprint, stacking a vertical program of exhibition and reception spaces vertically over a site of well preserved ruins from Rome's ancient heyday. The building perimeter is comprised of a metallic mesh screen enclosing a modernist glass and steel box, with inverted deflections on each level to introduce spatial division and accomodate ruins on display. Classroom and lounge areas are located on the second and third levels of an adjacent monastery, accessed via a pair of skywalks that afford students dynamic views to the ruins above which they span.