Multi-Criteria Analysis in Compound Decision Processes: The AHP and the Architectural Competition for the Chamber of Deputies in Rome (Italy)

Maria Guarini,Pierluigi Morano,Nicola D’Addabbo,Francesco Tajani

doi:10.3390/buildings7020038

Maria Guarini, Pierluigi Morano + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings7020038

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Abstract

In 1967, a national architectural competition was released for a preliminary project proposal, aimed at the realization of the new building for the Chamber of Deputies in Rome. The outcomes of that competition were unusual: eighteen projects were declared joint winners, and no winner was consequently selected. With reference to that event, this research aims to examine the usefulness of the evaluation tools that are currently employed and the positive effects that one of these techniques would have had, as support for the identification of the “winner” project, are highlighted. Therefore, an hypothetical examination/adjustment of the decision process of that competition through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is developed, analyzing the outputs obtained by the implementations of this technique on the final decision. In addition to confirming the usefulness of the evaluation tools for compound and conflicting decision processes, the results of this experiment led to a further understanding of the socio-cultural dynamics related to the original outcomes of the competition analyzed.

Highlights

In 1967, a national architectural competition was released for the preliminary project proposal, finalized to the construction of the new building for the Chamber of Deputies in Rome.The competition’s announcement asked for a project idea for an enlargement of “Palazzo Montecitorio”, which is still the headquarters of the Chamber of Deputies, in order to realize the project on an adjacent area between Piazza Montecitorio, Via della Missione and Via Campo di Marzio (Figure 1).The outcomes of that competition were unusual: eighteen joint winner projects were announced, and no winner was selected
The analysis developed on the materials collected from the archive of the Chamber of Deputies show that this competition aimed at solving some issues, e.g., a lack of space and static complications of Palazzo Montecitorio, along with the need to accommodate the adjacent area that, in its indecorous conditions, was a real offence for the historic district of Rome
The last step of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) involves the synthesis of the results

Summary

Introduction

In 1967, a national architectural competition was released for the preliminary project proposal, finalized to the construction of the new building for the Chamber of Deputies in Rome. The outcomes of that competition were unusual: eighteen joint winner projects were announced, and no winner was selected. This event left a deep mark in the history of competitions for architectural projects of public works in Italy, preventing—as a matter of fact—any chance to intervene on the old town center of Rome over the 20th century. In order to fulfill a general analysis of the state-of-the-art of planning in the old town centers in Italy, the study of the announcement in 1967 and its outcomes was a starting point for the considerations of this research. Through the implementation of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a hypothetical

Objectives

Results

Conclusion