The competition challenged designers to consider the “belonging” to Rome and design a high tower whose spirit encompasses the historical complexity of the Eternal City. The prize-winning entry for the Vertical Spa suggested a tower that could define a new typology of buildings, eventually able to determine the renewal of Rome in its future. The design takes Rome’s landscape and historic development from the forre, the tufa ravines out of which the initial shelters were carved. The carving out of the natural world into architecture is an element that the design seeks to investigate in a contemporary way.

The conceptual tufa wall is used to relate to the development of Rome while elaborating interior spaces in a diverse way and allowing the tower to relate visually to many elements of the city. The tower ends abruptly by a flat terrace, embracing the forre and its natural development.