Location_Piazza Duomo, Milan
Year_2021
Client_Milan Municipality
Service_Design Competition
The genesis of the project regarding the future connection of the Museo del Novecento towards the twin building is linked to the desire to preserve not only the urban perspective from Piazza Duomo towards Piazza Diaz, but the typological nature of the arengario itself. Any permanent aerial connection would have distorted its architectural identity, producing a hybrid between the propylaea and a triumphal arch typology, already considered by the architect Giuseppe Mengoni in the 1861 competition, but then discarded and used only for the facade of the facing Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The paradox of two different request in a single competition, that of the Municipality of Milan to connect the two arengarios with a permanent walkway and that of the Superintendency to leave the perspective towards Piazza Diaz intact, was resolved in the only possible way: mechanically.
The solution proposed is a theatrical horizontal elevator capable of connecting and then retracting.
A Leonardesque flying machine, which in its belonging more to the tradition of design than to architecture, expresses a very Milanese character. An object that solves the competition theme with a minimal interference and that could possibly be removed without complications. Perfectly spherical and moved by a long mechanical arm anchored to the second Arengario, the mobile cabin has very thin glass openings as it is mainly covered in gold plate.
Like the counterweight of a pendulum, it oscillates between the past (the great tradition of modern art, preserved in the first Arengario) and the future (the spectacle of contemporary art set up in the second Arengario). One cannot live without the other and the present is that moment suspended over the void of Piazza Duomo. The strong duality of the new museum complex is transformed from an handicap into the identifying feature of the museum, thus becoming the key concept for the visitor: the future of Art pinches the past for a few seconds and then returns to the future!
Exhibition spaces _ The chain of new exhibition spaces proceeds from the Sala Fontana towards the summit hall of the second Arengario via the aerial connection. The demolition of the attic floor level doubles the internal height and exposes the mighty reinforced concrete beams of the roof.
The tour then descends into spaces freed from partitions built in the ‘60, but without invasive demolitions on the original building. Through the excavation underneath via Marconi, the project introduce new areas for temporary exhibitions.
Four large skylights provide natural light and make the exhibitions visible from the square above.
Auditorium _ In order to reach the capacity of the prominent cultural events planned, the auditorium is located in the hall on the first floor. It doesn’t have fixed seats but stackable chairs that can be removed allowing different configurations.
Cafeteria _ The museum cafeteria is located in the same position of the existing bar connected to the Mondadori bookshop.The existing narrow spaces are however enlarged by including part of the portico on the ground floor, with a mezzanine and a curtain wall with a diamond pattern, in order to create a direct dialogue with the facade of the portico of the Primo Arengario designed by Italo Rota in 2010. On the ground floor there will be only a bar counter, while on the two mezzanine floors there will be restaurant tables. The cafeteria will be open to everyone, not just museum visitors.
Bookshop _ Placed at the end of the tour, the bookshop is located in the large underground hall below the second Arengario. The floor level is raised to reach the level of the staircase and the elevator block, while towards the underground room a large staircase with stepped seats manage gently the different levels.
Starting from the assumption that a well strucutred museum cannot ignore the need for a “ring system” in which the main hall serves both as the entrance and the exit, the project connects the two buildings above and below.
The visit route, once the apical hall of the First Arengario has been reached, is developed in three elements:
1_Aerial connection
The mobile cabin, with a capacity of 5 people, moves on a horizontal path thanks to a long mechanical arm located inside the second Arengario. The landing at both ends occurs with a minimal modification of the existing windows.
2_Vertical axis
In a logic of budget containment and enhancement of the existing heritage, the monumental staircase is maintained although regenerated in the materials finishing. A new elevator and freight elevator block is added.
3_Underground connection
By recovering the entire part below via Marconi intercepted between the two buildings, a new underground room is obtained capable of reconnecting to the base of the existing spiral ramp of the first Arengario.
