area 103+ | extra ordinary

architect: Arassociati

location: Bologna, Italy

year: 2007

The new Gallery of Modern Art inside the former Baker’s is the most important, most complex intervention of the entire district of the Manifattura delle Arti/Parco del Cavaticcio in Bologna, both owing to the nature of the building composed of a number of parts added over time, but above all for the double requirement of representing itself and expressing the necessary modernity of the new institution to which it must adapt: a museum of modern art. The spaces designed for MAMbo revolve around two precise places, which have always characterised the ancient building and now transformed according to new requirements. One is the covered courtyard in which the system of the new foyer has been re-organised, now open towards the city with the core of the new staircases, providing access to the park and public areas reserved for teaching, conferences and research (the new Art Library). The second place is undoubtedly the most emblematic, that is, the salone dei Forni (oven room), characterised by two smokestacks, a reminder of the former building, and by a series of new structural steel arches, which allow spatial compositions of great dimensions and weight. This 38-m-long space, 12 metres wide and over 15 metres high, is directly accessible from the foyer, and around it halls and exhibition galleries continue up to the first floor, linked by a new staircase, also accessible from the foyer, permitting a variety of possibilities in terms of setting up exhibitions. The exhibition spaces have been designed in a decidedly minimal way, created through a very simple rapport of exhibition surfaces (white walls), floors in smooth concrete and oak, and hanging voiles to guarantee a diffused, uniform light, hence creating a neutral environment in which to exhibit future art. In addition to the spaces open to the public, it has also been necessary to design offices for administration and storerooms for completed works on the second floor of the building. We could say that the basic choices in terms of design have been an endeavour to pursue simplicity as opposed to complexity; we have devised this museum with the endeavour to create harmony between spaces of memory and new museum and public spaces. A kind of workshop in which it is possible to interpret history and stories at the same time.

architect: Arassociati (Marco Brandolisio, Giovanni da Pozzo, Massimo Scheurer, Michele Tadini)
collaborators: Elisa Franchi, Chiara Mangiarotti www.arassociati.it
supervison of construction: Finanziaria Bologna Metropolitana
client: Amministrazione Comunale di Bologna
surface: 9000 sqm
year: 1999-2007
photo: Mario Carrieri, Raffaello Scatasta