By 2014, a modern area with a developed infrastructure will appear on the site of Fiera Milano: in addition to housing, there are planned cinemas, cafes, entertainment complexes, a children's center, a velodrome, expensive shops, offices, vast parks, underground roads, a new metro line, etc. the area is about 255 thousand m2. Three "star" architects were involved in the project at once - Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki and Daniel Libeskind, each of whom is building his own iconic structure in the center of the new district.
The Libeskind Museum of Contemporary Art is a 5-story sculpture building whose bizarre geometry is inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's famous Golden Ratio scheme. The vertical structure, as it grows up from a square base in plan, "loses" corners and ends with a circular roof terrace. According to the author, the "fluid" form of the museum reminds not only of the Renaissance study of proportions, but also of the evolution of art itself, which draws its beauty from dynamics, transformation and movement. From the outside, the building is protected by a lattice "screen" of lacquered strips of bronze aluminum, which emphasizes its graceful form. This "screen" also protects the glass curtain wall behind it from the sun's rays.
5 thousand m2 of free-plan exhibition spaces on 5 floors are suitable for a variety of exhibits. There is also about 7 thousand m2 outside: terraces of different sizes are arranged between the building and the "screen". These green areas are planned to be used for exposition - mainly for sculpture. The largest such site is a perfectly circular roof terrace with an area of about 1,400 m2, where a sculpture garden will be set up. All of these terraces are partially covered with steel and solar panels.
An atrium with 8 m high ceilings, located in the entrance area, provides ventilation for the upper galleries. It can also be used to display large-sized exhibits, including those suspended from the ceiling. The minimum ceiling height in the galleries is also quite high - 5.5 m. In addition to the exhibition halls, the building houses a bar and bistro, a restaurant overlooking the park, rooms for art seminars and a bookstore.
N. K.
