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 will be situated on the lot directly behind MACRO’s current site 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
10 000 square metres of new space: exhibition halls, event space, space devoted to video art, foyer, restaurant, art café, book shop, educational studio and lecture hall
2.500 square metres garden terrace for open-air exhibitions and space for visitors to sit and relax
6.400 square metres parking lot
1.000 square metres technical spaces added to the existing 4.500 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).