MAXXI: Art and Architecture in the 21st Century

MAXXI Museum, Rome - Sunday, June 19th

The MAXXI Museum, short for "the Museum of Art in the 21^st Century", was completed in 2009 by Zaha Hadid Architects. 10 years in the works, it is built on the site of former military barracks and was planned to be not only a center for the display of artwork, but a research workshop for different contemporary languages of design, fashion and cinema. 

The project started as a competition in 1999. Zaha Hadid won amongst 15 architects, among those were Jean Nouvel, Toyo Ito, Steven Holl and Rem Koolhaus. The type of art that would occupy the museum was uncertain at the start of the project, so the approach was to create a "frame or clearing for the unknown and untested". Eventually the national government set up Fondazione MAXXI, dedicated to contemporary art and architecture.

 

The building itself is designed with the concept of “chaotic fluidity in the modern life”. The museum’s interior is not made up of distinctly divided galleries but a constant flow of spaces connected by interweaving stairs. This continuity means that any space can be transformed into exhibits without the interruptions of walls. There is plenty of natural lighting from the glass roof above, and the stripes of lighting below the stairways creates an intense visual contrast between the black stairs and light concrete walls. 

Xinran, Ruby, Foong Ling