M9 New Museum for a New City

The project intends to consider current transformations whilst focussing on sustainability. In Italy the 20th century has left heavy traces over a territory which stores memories of a unique history. These violent transformations oblige us to think that the task of future generations will be to reassemble and re-think entire areas of land, like the industrial areas of Mestre.
M9 will include a museum conceived to stimulate critical consideration of the products of the recent past and to give a new impulse to social improvement. For this reason the museum was planned to be useable in a simple and flexible way, without its plastic form conditioning its use.
All possible options were studied to ensure easy access for the public, and all the possibilities offered by the area were taken into consideration in order to optimize the numerous views which are offered from the new construction.
The project takes its form from the different levels where the relationship between the new complex and the city is articulated, and represents overlapping “ground levels”, the first of which consists in a slope formed by an enormous level sloping towards the pedestrian street and by a wide flight of stairs towards the internal courtyard. Underneath is parking, storage areas and the machine rooms. A new intermediate “level” hosts the services and access to the ground floor, connected to one of the lateral roads. Above there is an access space for the museum, a shop, various public services and, above all, a square which offers a view on and in the city.
The museum is raised eight metres above the new ground level and by twelve metres compared to the ground level of the city. It was decided to maintain the aspect of the ex-barracks building covering the internal courtyard with a light glass held up by reticular beams and wires, whilst the construction of corridors of translucent glass and a wide window have been planned to most efficiently distribute light through the commercial spaces.
The entrance of the museum is of double height and consents access to both the actual road and the new “ground level” constructed at the higher level. Entrance is possible to the lower part of the construction from the street along the edge of the basement and so leads to the area which gathers together all the functions of the complex near the welcoming area (education rooms, shops, media library, cloakroom, bathroom, lower access to the restaurant or to the multipurpose rooms, etc.). In the upper part is the ticket office with a small store. The double height access does not disturb the fluidity of the space of the hall and contributes to create a relationship between these two different areas. From the welcome area, two large escalators lead to the museum. The choice of raising the museum floor by twelve metres creates the possibility of a large public space intended to connect the pedestrian area to the centre of the complex. Once having reached the museum the public enters a room where the themes treated by the exhibitions are presented. The entire first suspended floor is dedicated to the permanent exhibitions, whilst temporary exhibitions will be held on three levels in spaces set into the basement. An external path will allow the visitor to select which part of the temporary exhibition to visit, or instead to access the permanent exhibition.
The project plans the realisation of a structure which appears and disappears depending on the view point like a vibrant sculpture of natural light.
The green covering is threaded with tubes of an “organ”, or rather by vertical light shafts which go through the entire building and bring natural light to the underlying floors. From both the permanent exhibition and the temporary exhibition spaces a tower of over thirty metres high can be seen, similar to the metallic one of the neighbouring building.
The project intends for the complete recovery of rain-fall and its treatment in order that it might be used for the cleaning of the floors, watering of the plants, in the services and for spraying during the hottest periods; the use of solar panels which can satisfy all or part of the energy requirements of the complex; the adoption of triple glazing to guarantee thermal insulation.
The building will transmit a sense of lightness and for this reason it was decided to use frosted glass to increase the opacity and multiply the effects, the play of reflections, the alternation of translucent and transparent surfaces, which characterise it.