Photograph by Hélène Binet
Exterior View, Dusk
Rome, Italy
1998 - 2009
Italian Ministry of Culture, Rome, Italy, Fondazione MAXXI
MAXXI: Museum of XXI Century Arts
Photograph by Iwan Baan
View of lobby from the second floor
The MAXXI design addresses the question of its urban context by maintaining an indexicality to the former army barracks. This is in no way an attempt at topological pastiche, but instead continues the low-level urban texture set against the higher level blocks on the surrounding sides of the site.
In this way, the Centre is more like an ‘urban graft’, a second skin to the site. At times, it affiliates with the ground to become new ground, yet also ascends and coalesces to become massivity where needed. The entire building has an urban character: prefiguring upon a directional route connecting the River to Via Guido Reni, the Centre encompasses both movement patterns extant and desired, contained within and outside.
This vector defines the primary entry route into the building. By intertwining the circulation with the urban context, the building shares a public dimension with the city, overlapping tendril-like paths and open space. In addition to the circulatory relationship, the architectural elements are also geometrically aligned with the urban grids that join at the site. In thus partly deriving its orientation and physiognomy from the context, it further assimilates itself to the specific conditions of the site.
Photograph by Iwan Baan
Photograph by Roland Halbe
Exterior View
Photograph by Iwan Baan
Main lobby, view up to ramps and skylight
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Photograph by Iwan Baan
Aerial View
01
02
03
04
05
06
The design offers a quasi-urban field, a world” to dive into rather than a building as signature object. The Campus is organised and navigated on the basis of directional drifts and the distribution of densities rather than key points. This is indicative of the character of the Centre as a whole: porous, immersive, a field space. An inferred mass is subverted by vectors of circulation.
The external as well as internal circulation follows the overall drift of the geometry. Vertical and oblique circulation elements are located at areas of confluence, interference and turbulence. The move from object to field is critical in understanding the relationship the architecture will have to the content of the artwork it will house. Whilst this is further expounded by the contributions of our Gallery and Exhibitions Experts below, it is important here to state that the premise of the architectural design promotes a disinheriting of the ‘object’ orientated gallery space. Instead, the notion of a ‘drift’ takes on an embodied form.
The drifting emerges, therefore, as both architectural motif, and also as a way to navigate experientially through the museum. It is an argument that, for art practice is well understood, but in architectural hegemony has remained alien. We take this opportunity, in the adventure of designing such a forward looking institution, to confront the material and conceptual dissonance evoked by art practice since the late 1960’s. The path lead away from the ‘object’ and its correlative sanctifying, towards fields of multiple associations that are anticipative of the necessity to change.
Cultural
From a civic art centre that unites three distinct cultural institutions to a science fiction museum whose landscaping contributes to the city’s drainage and flood defence systems, discover our latest cultural projects.
A series of new landscaped parklands, terraces and gardens along the Zhedong Canal within the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou
Render by Atchain
A place of convergence and collaboration, the Yidan Center will be home to the Chen Yidan Foundation in its work to promote lifelong learning and innovation in education.
Render by Proloog
Elevation River
Designed to host local and international productions of opera, dance and drama together with large-scale symphonies and musical theatre, the Art and Culture Centre includes a 1,400-seat Grand Theatre, 500-seat Black-Box Multifunctional Hall, 2,900 sq. m Arts and Education Centre, 3,000m² Conference Centre, 7,500m² Heritage Museum and a 10,000m² Digital Art Gallery.
Render by Specto-Digital
Meaning ‘inheritance passed down through generations’, Asaan will be an institution dedicated to preserving and celebrating this rich heritage, in addition to promoting creativity and knowledge sharing.
The new Nikola Tesla Museum renovates Belgrade’s historic Milan Vapa Paper Mill into a cultural destination celebrating Tesla’s legacy while preserving the city’s architectural heritage and creating a variety of new public spaces for local residents and visitors.
Courtesy of ZHA
River View
The Alisher Navoi International Scientific Research Centre will incorporate the Navoi State Museum of Literature, Auditorium, International Research Centre and School.
Render by Atchain
Jinghe New City is growing as a science and technology hub north of Xi’an in China’s Shaanxi province. Supported by new scientific research institutes and driven by environmental considerations, the city is becoming a centre for developing industries focusing on new energy and materials, artificial intelligence and aerospace.
Photograph by Virgile Simon Bertrand
Showcasing the scientific endeavour, ground-breaking research and future possibilities of technology, this new institution will explore the power of science and the technological advancements defining our future.
Photograph by Luke Hayes
The Serpentine North Gallery consists of two distinct parts, namely the conversion of a classical 19th century brick structure – The Magazine – and a 21st century tensile structure. The Serpentine North Gallery is thus – after MAXXI in Rome – the second art space where ZHA has created a synthesis of old and new.
Photograph by Fernando Guerra
An enclosed interactive space spanning the River Ebro to form a gateway to the Zaragoza Expo 2008, a hybrid of pedestrian footbridge and exhibition pavilion. Four structural elements correspond to specific spatial enclosures, which intersect and brace each other. This fluid, dynamic design interprets the Expo’s theme: ‘Water and Sustainable Development.’
Located at the entrance to Sanya’s harbour, the new cultural district by ZHA is adjacent to the Jiangang Road terminus of Sanya’s tram network that connects many of the residential and hotel districts on Sanya Bay with the city’s high-speed rail station.
Courtesy of Arch-Exist
default
The new Chengdu Science Fiction Museum is situated on Jingrong Lake within the Science & Innovation New City of Chengdu’s Pidu District.
Render by Negativ
Waterfront view of new Science Centre. render by Negativ. The image is an artist’s impression, and final design may be subject to changes.
Singapore’s New Science Centre will provide unique facilities and programmes as a destination for all Singaporeans to access science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and experiences.
Courtesy of CAT-OPTOGRAM 猫瞳
Integrating three distinct cultural institutions for the city, each venue within the Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Arts Centre incorporates unique characteristics that create differing visitor experiences, yet all are united by a coherent formal and structural logic that spans 170 meters wide from east to west and 270 meters long from north to south.
Photograph by Roland Halbe
Our extension at Ordrupgaard redefined the relationships between the museum buildings gardens, creating a new landscape both in itself and in unison with its surroundings. Design ensures that visitors’ experience is not fragmented or compartmentalized – building / collection / gardens – but a continuous, fluid interaction between different elements and aspects.
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
keyFacts
awards
people
credits