The expansion Project
Rendering
Inspired by the constant flux of Contemporary Art, Decq has proposed a self-contradicting edifice that strikes a dynamic balance, at once a point of rupture generating conflict and creative instability while at the same time establishing a harmonious relationship with this ever-changing art, itself constantly tempting boundaries and resisting complacency. Decq’s building is situated on Via Reggio Emilia. Combined, the two buildings will occupy the full depth of the city block. By displacing the main museum entrance to the corner of Via Nizza and Via Cagliari, Decq has opened up an area that was previously hidden. Typified by the insertion of street-level windows into some of the exhibition halls, Decq removes traditional boundaries and ignores dichotomous perceptions of public versus private, urban versus cultural existences. The site’s new identity is perhaps most evident in the multi-level rooftop garden. Visible from the top floor of the MACRO’s first building on Via Reggio Emilia, the garden will appear as a panoramic abstraction. Accessible from various points within the museum, the roof will house a café and terrace seating, a garden and a point of intersection for visitors, artists, ideas, and admiration. The project’s façade, angled on via Nizza and via Cagliari, will be an enunciation of the old and the new. The structure opens passages to articulate the presence of the museum within the panorama of the street. Windows into the exhibition halls open onto the street revealing the interaction between contemporary art and the city.
Technical Information
Total area of existing Macro: 3.890 square metres
Total cubature of existing Macro: 15.200 cubic meters
Total area of the extension: 10.050 square metres
Cubature of the above-ground extension: 29.097 cubic meters
Cubature of the below-ground extension Macro: 17.618 cubic meters
Total area: 13.940 square metres
Macro underground park: 5.650 square metres (161 posti auto)
Tital cubature: 61.915 cubic meters
Outdoor spaces: 600 square metres
Terrace: 2.500 square metres
Existing exhibition space: 1.450 square metres
Exhibition space after the extension (including the foyer): 2.900 square metres
Total exhibition space: 4.350 square metres
Services
(conference room, bookshop, cafe, restaurant, educational area): 1.750 square metres
Who is Odile Decq
Odile Decq (b.1955) completed her training as an architect in Paris in 1978.
With Benoit Cornette, Odile Decq was awarded the contract for the administrative and social centre of the Banque Populaire de l’Ouest Armorique in Rennes, France. This project garnered much praise and a number of awards for the architects. Powerful and dynamic, Decq and Cornette’s architecture is derived from the world of “high tech” as evidenced by their projects for the port of Osaka in Japan, the Saint Gobain research centre in Paris and MACRO in Rome (contributer Burkhard Morass).