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Zaha Hadid: MAXXI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Architecture
Zaha Hadid: MAXXI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Architecture
Explore Zaha Hadid’s vision for MAXXI’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Architecture (1989-2009) in Rome. Architect Margherita Guccione, director of MAXXI’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Architecture, reflects on Hadid’s innovative use of swooping curves, impossible angles and haunting views.
Flow and drift are key concepts to the building’s design, with its dynamic, linear form echoing the streets outside and reflecting Hadid’s interest in integrating her buildings within their urban context while revitalising an existing site in the metropolis. At the same time, the organic design creates open-ended encounters with the contemporary art exhibited inside the museum.
Time Period:
21st century
Themes:
The architect Margherita Guccione is director of MAXXI’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Architecture (MAXXI Architettura). From 2000 she supervised on behalf of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities the design and realisation of the MAXXI building designed by Zaha Hadid and was the scientific head of the nascent Museum of Architecture. In this role she set up the architecture collections, curating the acquisition of the archives of some of the leading architects of the 20th century and significant drawings, models and installations by contemporary architects. She curated the DARC’s participation in the Venice Biennale with exhibitions devoted to figures and themes from Italian architecture: Carlo Scarpa (2002), Sguardi contemporanei (2004), Workscape (2006). Further exhibitions curated in Rome include Alessandro Anselmi, superficie, piano e progetto (2004), Giancarlo De Carlo, le ragioni dell’architettura (2005) and Nature_Francesco Venezia (2011). She prepared for the opening of MAXXI with the programming of the Museum of Architecture’s inaugural exhibitions, cultural activities and events (2008-2010).
A member of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities’ technical-scientific committee for architectural and urban quality and for contemporary art and of the Joint Committee for the valorisation of the work of Carlo Scarpa, Margherita Guccione has undertaken intensive institutional and research activities regarding the conservation and valorisation of the ancient and contemporary and architectural heritage. She has directed the DARC contemporary architecture service (2002-2009) and she has also acted as Superintendent of the Architectural and Landscape heritage and the historical-artistic and demo-ethno-anthropological heritage of Caserta and Benevento (2000-2001).
She is the author of numerous papers and articles on 20th Century architecture and the relationship between contemporaneity and conservation. The principal publications she has edited include: Zaha Hadid, opere e progetti (2002), Documentare il contemporaneo, gli archivi degli architetti (2002), Il ponte e la città, Sergio Musmeci a Potenza (2003), Alessandro Anselmi, piano superficie progetto (2004), Giancarlo De Carlo, le ragioni dell’architettura (2005), Archivi e Musei di architettura (2009). Her monographic studies include: Patrimonio culturale e disastri. L’impatto del sisma sui beni monumentali (1998), Zaha Hadid, l’architettura i protagonisti (2007), Materia grigia, il racconto della costruzione (2010).
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