THE PRIX DE ROME IN ARCHITECTURE:
A RETROSPECTIVE
Edited by Marco Polo
with images and drawings by Philip Beesley
"Chthonion Projects, my 1995-96 program of work in Rome, Resulted from several months spent with an archaeological team reconstructing a flank of the Palatine Hill, focusing on ritual deposits at the fortified boundary of the archaic city. During the excavation work, I encountered traces of human sacrifice, and the underground became the underworld.
Early work involved the preparation of accurate drawings and digital models of the site, recording the densely layered accretions of construction. Later, I probed the original deposits that, true to foundation myths, contained ritual burials of building materials, animals and humans. The work pursued a contemporary 'chthonian' based on the deep underground and the unconscious."
The Prix de Rome in Architecture: A Retrospective
Edited by Marco Polo
Coach house Books
Toronto, Ontario, 2006
ISBN 978-1-55245-197-3
