Plans for a new museum dedicated to carbon fiber technology are taking shape in the Italian city of Piacenza, showcasing the building material by way of an experiential space that designers Carlo Ratti Architects (CRA) are hoping forms a perfect fit in the country’s prosperous Emilia-Romagna region.
The new MAE Museum––named after the machine manufacturing company headquartered in the city––will be the first-ever museum space dedicated to the material, drawing from the 53-year-old company’s inventory of manufactured objects to create what the architect says is the largest acrylic fiber archive anywhere in the world.
The museum is located in a former warehouse space adjacent to MAE’s newest production plant and is recursively comprised of new and recycled versions of the material to which its exhibition spaces are dedicated. CRA worked with the local studio Italo Rota for the museum’s layout and creative direction.
A giant fly zipper entryway welcomes visitors into the first-floor archive flooded with dazzling white light and filled with historical artifacts. Robots act as docent guides that can extract photographs and other objects documenting carbon fiber’s impacts in manufacturing and on society as a whole. Visitors can then take a guided tour about the process that converts acrylic into carbon fiber before terminating into a black room, where they will explore the experimental applications of the material.
CRA also worked with Rota for its design of the new MEET Digital Arts Center in Milan. A construction schedule for the MAE project was unavailable at publicaton time.
7 Comments
Carbon fiber is environmentally unfriendly. The manufacturing process releases hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, and volatile organic compounds plus greenhouse gases carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide.
Yes but a planet ravaged by a toxic super heated atmosphere with the resultant famine, plagues, and mass extinctions is a small price to pay
for a building that has a zipper for an entrance.
At least the zipper appears to be ADA compliant.
Looks more than 4 inches.
At the start of each day: "Welcome, our fly is open."
At closing time: "We're zipping it up, folks. Please consider becoming a member."
It is in Italy so ADA doesn't apply.
Maybe a "Go Fund Me" so those with no sense of humor can buy one.
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