Maxxi, Italy’s national museum of contemporary art and architecture, has announced plans for a new building featuring an R&D centre, as well as green spaces for outdoor exhibitions and sustainable upgrades.
The project, titled Grande Maxxi, involves the development of Maxxi Hub, a new sustainable building housing a research and development (R&D) hub for collaborations between art, architecture, science and artificial intelligence (AI).
Maxxi Hub will also feature conservation laboratories for contemporary art, as well as training spaces and innovative storage facilities across two floors.
Another element of the project, known as Maxxi Green, includes creating a new accessible green area designed by artists and agronomists, with outdoor exhibits, environmental workshops and vegetable gardens.
“Laboratory of the future” in Rome
The masterplan will also improve the sustainability of the Zaha Hadid-designed building. The museum will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by installing solar panels on the roof. Methane gas boilers will be eliminated, and all light sources will be converted to LED technology.
“In its first 10 years of activity, Maxxi has grown and evolved, thereby becoming a device for research, education and experimentation,” said Giovanna Melandri, president of the Maxxi Foundation.
Melandri said the masterplan “will enable us to confront the ‘new world’ that must arise from the syndemic, environmental, social and health crisis and become even more a laboratory of the future”.
“The Grande Maxxi site will provide an opportunity for new projects and new employment for many young people, researchers, artists, creatives,” she added.
“We are now ready for this new challenge, to make the Maxxi of the future grow.”
Italy has launched an innovative streaming platform called ITsART, billed as the ‘Netflix of Italian culture’, offering access to virtual tours, museum exhibitions, and other forms of art.
Images: Zaha Hadid Architects
