MAXXI: museum of XXI Arts, Rome, Italy
MAXXI:Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, Italy by Zaha Hadid
Iconfess never been a fan of Zaha Hadid architectural approach,however, in the past months, I had the opportunity to visit two ofher works and must confess I was quite impressed.
Evenif I think that formal expression prevails over space quality andconnection to surroundings, I must also admit that her expressionismis much more interesting than I imagined and the constructionquality, flawless.
Thisis my record of MAXXI: museum of XXI Century Arts, located in theoutskirts of Rome, Italy, that I visit in February this year. It wasan awful morning – cold, rainy and after snowy…
Apparently,Romans say, it hadn't snowed this much for over 20 years so, I guess,this is the first time the building experiences it…actually thesnow started to fall while we were inside the building and, hasbeautiful as it might looks, I can assure you, it wasn't pleasant atall. Snow is only pleasant when you are prepared for it.
Thebuilding establishes an interesting relationship with thepre-existing building – it doesn't impose itself over it, (whichwas quite of a positive surprise to me), the preexisting buildingsare all painted in white while the new building presents the lightgrey concrete color mostly inside the lot – a slick combination ofcurves and sharp edges difficult to understand at first glance sinceyou never have a visual angle to apprehend the entire building, youare only able to see sections that guide you with the help of thepavement designed in symbiosis with the building.
Thepavement follows the combination of line and curve where paths arehierarquize thru a smooth differentiation of materials reminding meJapanese traditional landscape architecture.
Theinterior, offers you great shots, but, in my opinion, it lackscharacter or should I say personality – that special feeling thatonly special spaces can make you feel and that I really cannotexplain in any other way. Staircases and passages fly over you atdifferent levels creating an interesting relationship betweenvisitors going from one exhibition space to the other but somethingis missing…
Therelationship with the preexisting building is quite clear most of thetimes – like a friendly dialog between Goliath and the Lilliput (oran alien creature and an old roman lady – its quite interestingactually, dispute some areas, like the entrance where I think itshould be more clear…
Iconfess never been a fan of Zaha Hadid architectural approach,however, in the past months, I had the opportunity to visit two ofher works and must confess I was quite impressed.
Evenif I think that formal expression prevails over space quality andconnection to surroundings, I must also admit that her expressionismis much more interesting than I imagined and the constructionquality, flawless.
Thisis my record of MAXXI: museum of XXI Century Arts, located in theoutskirts of Rome, Italy, that I visit in February this year. It wasan awful morning – cold, rainy and after snowy…
Apparently,Romans say, it hadn't snowed this much for over 20 years so, I guess,this is the first time the building experiences it…actually thesnow started to fall while we were inside the building and, hasbeautiful as it might looks, I can assure you, it wasn't pleasant atall. Snow is only pleasant when you are prepared for it.
Thebuilding establishes an interesting relationship with thepre-existing building – it doesn't impose itself over it, (whichwas quite of a positive surprise to me), the preexisting buildingsare all painted in white while the new building presents the lightgrey concrete color mostly inside the lot – a slick combination ofcurves and sharp edges difficult to understand at first glance sinceyou never have a visual angle to apprehend the entire building, youare only able to see sections that guide you with the help of thepavement designed in symbiosis with the building.
Thepavement follows the combination of line and curve where paths arehierarquize thru a smooth differentiation of materials reminding meJapanese traditional landscape architecture.
Theinterior, offers you great shots, but, in my opinion, it lackscharacter or should I say personality – that special feeling thatonly special spaces can make you feel and that I really cannotexplain in any other way. Staircases and passages fly over you atdifferent levels creating an interesting relationship betweenvisitors going from one exhibition space to the other but somethingis missing…
Therelationship with the preexisting building is quite clear most of thetimes – like a friendly dialog between Goliath and the Lilliput (oran alien creature and an old roman lady – its quite interestingactually, dispute some areas, like the entrance where I think itshould be more clear…
