MEF, the new Enzo Ferrari museum, comprises two separate buildings: the old house where Ferrari was born in 1898, and an adjacent new building. The museum complex was designed by Future Systems, a former London-based architectural practice. After Jan Kaplický passed away in 2009, co-designer Andrea Morgante (Shiro Studio) took over as onsite art director to oversee the exhibit layout. The sinuous, sculpted shape of the new building embraces the volume of Ferrari’s childhood home. Traditional materials and colours create continuity with the old building while contemporary forms and technologies make it a totally modern construction. Ferrari’s birthplace and his father Alfredo’s mechanical workshop have been restored maintaining the original separation between home and workplace. The museum is similarly conceived, its open-book layout, lighting, digital projections and display cases mirroring the original structure. The new building - the Gallery - has a striking yellow aluminium roof and full-length glazed frontage facing the Ferrari home and allowing uninterrupted views from and into each building. Inside, the Gallery is a single, white space. Walls and floors flow into each other, creating a fluid, uniform backdrop to the real protagonists, the cars. The raised display platforms on which the cars stand make for exhibition flexibility. Display cases contain documents, memorabilia and audio-video material. There is also an events room, teaching facility and multimedia room. The new complex is the result of the combined efforts of numerous parties: project and works management were the realm of Politecnica; the entire job was overseen by CdC, Cooperativa di Costruzioni di Modena; Stahlbau Pichler produced the metal structures; and Mapei was a technical sponsor, product supplier and technological solution provider, offering continuous onsite technical support. Mapei was involved in the restoration of the Ferrari home - laying the screed and applying the final resin coating - and in the new building - creating the flooring, with the same resin as in the old house, and the wall cladding. The resin finish was polyurethane Mapefloor Finish 56, specifically produced for this project. Highly scratch resistant, it gives the floor a satin finish that reflects light and takes on colour, helping to create the fluid, sculpted feel of the interior.
Mapei
Via Cafiero, 22
I - 20158 Milano
Tel. +39 02 37673.1
Fax + 39 02 37673214
E-mail:
[email protected]www.mapei.com
