Grande MAXXI

The proposal imagines a new green and variegated urban front: a linear sequence of natural landscapes that divides and organizes the entire area, offering to the city a mosaic of open spaces that extends the Museum outside. The new multifunctional building is the last piece of this articulated system of public spaces; a “double” building consisting of two paths: the first, internal, welcomes the new spaces required by the Museum (deposits, laboratories, and classrooms); the second, external and accessible to all, connects the landscape system with the green roof of the new building. The architecture blends with the landscape: the public space becomes the new building and the external path offers visitors a “second museum” from which to admire the activities happening inside. In this way, the very acts of preserving and restoring the pieces of art, as well as the work of research and experimentation, are elevated to the same level as the artworks.

Actually, the building might not exist: it is only the public path that suggests its volume and boundaries. As if by magic, the facade of the building disappears, or rather, the idea of a facade disappears: the shape is generated by the external floor surfaces. The interior spaces are connected with the exterior, opening the Museum to the city. The public spaces double the Museum and extend it outside, offering the possibility to host shows, concerts, conferences, or set up an en plein air museum. The result is a dual building that emerges from the city itself and pays homage to its public space: an inhabited landscape made of streets, monumental stairs, squares, covered spaces, and generous gardens. A city within a city.