Where
 

The Museum is located in the City Area of the former Atac Tramway Warehouse of Via Flaminia 80, historically known as “Borghetto Flaminio”, in the heart of Rome between Villa Borghese Gardens and Piazza del Popolo. The whole location underwent a process of restoration in order to change its intended use and make it an exhibition area. The Ufficio Progetti Città Storica of Comune di Roma took care of the intervention and supervised all the phases of the restoration. The project is part of the plan of renovation of the whole area of Borghetto. Some of the elements included both in the winning project and in the PRG M1 zone were taken into consideration. The requalification plans provide for area renovation and creation of green areas. A team of experts guaranteed the quality of the intervention, developing the project from the design to the building phase. The historical value of the façade on Via Flaminia has been kept, and value has been added to the ancient roman road where the building is located.

Industrial ArchaeologyThrough the renovation of buildings dating between 1870 and 1920, an urban re-qualification has been carried out, that transformed a degraded area into a precious reference point for families and children. The cast iron pavilion has been recovered from the wire-frame truss-type structure designed by the French engineer Polonceau. The pavilion ‘was born’ out of the renovation of the cast iron structure designed by Polenceau, surrounded by a green urban area that is the main element of the site requalification. Like Villa Strohl-Fer, the Museum building orientation is not ‘regular’, since its façades are not orthogonal to the main roads, Via Flaminia and Via Fortuny. These ‘rule breaks’ can be found in the service building, but also in the orientation of the entrance façade and in the paths of the outdoor area. Structural renovation has also been carried out through works of consolidation of foundation, and the creation of concrete shells, that work as wind bracing blocking the upper part of the cast iron columns, leaving them the role of supporting only vertical forces.

Looking-throughThe structure in cast iron and steel is external to the glass walls keeping the ‘open space atmosphere’ of the original building. The tall glass walls and the skylight help harmonise the exhibition pavilion with the outdoor landscape, allowing visitors to see working details and mechanisms which are usually hidden. The main element for the architectural design of the exhibition pavilion is Light, both natural and artificial. The natural light coming through the skylight roof, through the glass walls and the photovoltaic brise-soleil. The artificial light overnight coming through the wide glass walls that allow visitors to see the internal activities. Glass walls and light enhance the value and the inside and outside visibility of the architectonic components: shells, walls and systems are detached from their real function and their historical value conferred by the location.

CampaignsThe Museum’s opening campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi has been included in Italy’s Art Directors Club 2001 Annual, which lists Italy’s best advertising campaigns. Saatchi & Saatchi also carried out the institutional communication campaign which was listed in the Print Ad Show Cases, a collection of the best media adverting campaigns carried out by Saatchi & Saatchi’s global network in 2001.