1. Home
  2. Award 2023
  3. Mixed Use
  4. MARTE, a new mixed use building dedicated to the arts

MARTE, a new mixed use building dedicated to the arts

Exa Engineering

Mixed Use  /  Future
Exa Engineering

The project idea starts from the need to redevelop an important historical cultural area of the city, located between the pedestrian center of Massa and the historic Pomario garden, which is now very degraded and used as a parking area, know as "ex-CAT".
The project reclaims the deteriorated urban fabric and revolves around the creation of a new mixed use building dedicated entirely to the arts, called MARTE. MARTE, in italian, it stands for Music, ARt and ThEater and as Massa and Arte. Finally Mars also as the planet that reminds us of the chosen wall tile: a three-dimensional red tile that plays with the sun's reflections

Currently, the area in question consists of the "ex-CAT" building dating back to the 1960s used until 2009 as a public transport depot by the CAT S.p.A. company, a smaller building used to house the Museum of Resistance and a free parking area; the area, despite its proximity to the center of the city of Massa, is characterized by a strong degradation.
The purpose of this intervention is, in fact, to design a coordinated set of interventions with a view to sustainability aimed at the recovery and enhancement of the existing heritage with socioeconomic development objectives, through the improvement of urban and environmental quality.

The "House of the Arts" is the focal point of the project, as all the regenerative and social recovery functions of the area are channeled into it. Within this new volume are allocated missing spaces in the city of Massa such as: exhibition and museum spaces, multi-use rooms, and arts and crafts rooms.
The monolithic form derives from the need to enclose within a single box the various functions dedicated to art. This monolith is carved on the sides where the entrance and stairs are inserted and on the north side, where the building opens onto the park like a kind of telescope.
The cladding, made of a red three-dimensional tile, serves to play with this compact form and fragment the reflection of light.
On the ground floor there is an auditorium developed in double height that will accommodate up to a maximum of 270 spectators and an "urban space" with a cafeteria area, bar and spaces that face outside, suitable for cultivating social relationships and as a calm zone for relaxation and reading.
On the first floor all the spaces for the arts have been dedicated: theater, music and visual arts are located in classrooms designed specifically for their different needs. In fact, the music rooms are placed in soundproof rooms designed, if necessary, as recording rooms while the visual arts are placed in what is a room intended for the relocation of the "museum of resistance". On the upper floor there is also a large room intended for study.

A project that comes from afar, but goes in the desirable direction of urban regeneration and support for cultural policies.

Credits

 Massa
 Italy
 Comune di Massa
 Edificio polifunzionale dedicato all'arte
 02/2025
 8100 sq. m
  4,400,000.00 €
 Sabatino Tonacci, Paolo Biggeri, Riccardo Cecchini, Eugenio Pulsinelli
 Nicola Bonfigli, Elia Belli, Sara Gariglio, Federico Micheli, Daniela Aranzulla
 Impianti: Mario Del Santo

Curriculum

EXA Engineering srl was founded in La Spezia as an engineering company in 1998 after a common path of its founding partners, Sabatino Tonacci and Paolo Biggeri.
Exa's main value lies in presenting itself as a company capable of solving the problems of a varied clientele thanks to the consolidated experience of the partners as well as the different training paths and complementary tasks of its internal collaborators.

https://www.exaweb.it/


© Maggioli SpA • THE PLAN • Via del Pratello 8 • 40122 Bologna, Italy • T +39 051 227634 • P. IVA 02066400405 • ISSN 2499-6602 • E-ISSN 2385-2054
ITC Avant Garde Gothic® is a trademark of Monotype ITC Inc. registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and which may be registered in certain other jurisdictions.