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MAXXI
Posted by: Kane on 7th Oct 2010 in Opinion
Image: Iwan Baan
This time in August we looked at the nominees for this year’s Stirling Prize for Architecture.
As expected, Zaha Hadid Architects took the prize for the MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome. Of the nominees, MAXXI was mid-table in terms of cost, but arguably the most striking and iconic looking outcome.
In their words, the architects' vision for the museum was to create a ‘field of buildings’ rather than 'an object'. As seen from above this appears to have been achieved. The site is a tangle of linear forms that lie above, below and amongst one another, culminating in the bold cantilevered gallery that has already become the resounding image of the museum.
Indeed, it could be argued that a seemingly random arrangement such as this needs a 'face', a front side for visitors to orient themselves. It is a public space after all, and this could be seen as the concessionary feature that ensures that MAXXI is initially recognisable and ultimately iconic. In a sense this gallery owes something to I.M. Pei’s Johnson Museum at Cornell University. However, where Pei’s equivalent made up one of the core forms of the building, at MAXXI this is just one of many bold junctions and intersects.
Situated at the northern side of the city, a few blocks from the Tiber, the building sits on a rather awkward L-shaped site, with no two widths or lengths the same. It is in this unusual envelope that Hadid’s approach to form really shines. Rather than shoehorn some more traditional cuboids into the space, the unencumbered arrangement of MAXXI looks at home here, and as though it’s a format that might be adapted to suit any space.
Image: Iwan Baan
Image: Zaha Hadid Architects
If the outside of the building looks confusing, the interior looks baffling. Now visitors are required to actually interact with the museum; navigating up, down and along it’s bold forms via freestanding stairwells, galleries and catwalks. The lines of these gangways weave and intersect with those of the ceiling louvers, reminiscent of the copper lines of a PCB, or even Beck’s famous London Underground map.
So what do you get for winning the Stirling prize? A ton of publicity, your name added to a very illustrious list, and a £200,000 prize. (Although with an annual operating budget of €9,000,000 this amount would pay to keep MAXXI itself open for just 9 days…)
The grand, modernist format of the museum seems like a fitting home to a collection of 20th and 21st Century art, literature, photography and architecture; yet it has not been popular amongst some on the
internet.
As well as the usual compliment of sour grapes, it appears that some feel that showcases like the Stirling Prize should be a benchmark for social or environmental responsibility, rather than making an artistic statement.
Last year’s winner for example was a cancer unit at Charing Cross Hospital, and the winners Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, donated their prize to charity.
Whatever your view on the politics of the award, if you’d like to see MAXXI for yourself, you can fly to Rome direct from Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead. Otherwise Hadid’s first major work in Britain will be the London Aquatics Centre in Stratford for the 2012 Olympics.
Image: Iwan Baan
Model image: Roger Howie
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Posted by: Kane on 7th Oct 2010 in Opinion
Image: Iwan Baan
This time in August we looked at the nominees for this year’s Stirling Prize for Architecture.
As expected, Zaha Hadid Architects took the prize for the MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome. Of the nominees, MAXXI was mid-table in terms of cost, but arguably the most striking and iconic looking outcome.
In their words, the architects' vision for the museum was to create a ‘field of buildings’ rather than 'an object'. As seen from above this appears to have been achieved. The site is a tangle of linear forms that lie above, below and amongst one another, culminating in the bold cantilevered gallery that has already become the resounding image of the museum.
Indeed, it could be argued that a seemingly random arrangement such as this needs a 'face', a front side for visitors to orient themselves. It is a public space after all, and this could be seen as the concessionary feature that ensures that MAXXI is initially recognisable and ultimately iconic. In a sense this gallery owes something to I.M. Pei’s Johnson Museum at Cornell University. However, where Pei’s equivalent made up one of the core forms of the building, at MAXXI this is just one of many bold junctions and intersects.
Situated at the northern side of the city, a few blocks from the Tiber, the building sits on a rather awkward L-shaped site, with no two widths or lengths the same. It is in this unusual envelope that Hadid’s approach to form really shines. Rather than shoehorn some more traditional cuboids into the space, the unencumbered arrangement of MAXXI looks at home here, and as though it’s a format that might be adapted to suit any space.
Image: Iwan Baan
Image: Zaha Hadid Architects
If the outside of the building looks confusing, the interior looks baffling. Now visitors are required to actually interact with the museum; navigating up, down and along it’s bold forms via freestanding stairwells, galleries and catwalks. The lines of these gangways weave and intersect with those of the ceiling louvers, reminiscent of the copper lines of a PCB, or even Beck’s famous London Underground map.
So what do you get for winning the Stirling prize? A ton of publicity, your name added to a very illustrious list, and a £200,000 prize. (Although with an annual operating budget of €9,000,000 this amount would pay to keep MAXXI itself open for just 9 days…)
The grand, modernist format of the museum seems like a fitting home to a collection of 20th and 21st Century art, literature, photography and architecture; yet it has not been popular amongst some on the
internet.
As well as the usual compliment of sour grapes, it appears that some feel that showcases like the Stirling Prize should be a benchmark for social or environmental responsibility, rather than making an artistic statement.
Last year’s winner for example was a cancer unit at Charing Cross Hospital, and the winners Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, donated their prize to charity.
Whatever your view on the politics of the award, if you’d like to see MAXXI for yourself, you can fly to Rome direct from Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead. Otherwise Hadid’s first major work in Britain will be the London Aquatics Centre in Stratford for the 2012 Olympics.
Image: Iwan Baan
Model image: Roger Howie
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