The shape of things to come 1.0

MAXXI (Zaha Hadid, Rome)

The long-awaited ΜΑΧΧΙ (Museo Nazionale delle arti del XXI Secolo)  is opening on May 30 after a string of delays. Based on a comparatively old Hadid design (1998) and winner of a closed invitation international competition, it will add to the city of Rome another landmark building signed by a starchitect, after Meier's Ara Pacis (2003)  and Piano's Parco della Musica (2006) The museum, on a former encampment site, is destined to contribute to the often heated debate among proponents of the so-called radical interventions and those who oppose them citing among others the current economic crisis.

 
Left: Ara Pacis του Meier (2003) Right: Parco della Musica του Piano (2006).

MAXXI's neighborhood, the fashionable Parioli district, is already home to acclaimed Villagio Olimpico (Moretti, Cafiero, Libera, Luccichenti & Monaco, 1958) as well as the aforementioned Parco della Musica. Still, the museum's entrance faces a rather uninspiring street (Via Guido Reni) and that view, another stylistic pastiche to a ''burdened'' -according to Le Corbusier- roman past, somehow mysteriously has escaped intense media notice. The museum may have famously exceeded its budget but could be late to bring the Bilbao effect to a city that stayed too long under the radar of impressive architectural make-overs.

More on MAXXI, urban interventions in Rome and Zaha:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/architecture_and_design/article6918875.ece
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1692

Castle House (Hamilton Associates Architects, London)

Castle House on the other hand, is not to be compared to MAXXI since it's just a hi-rise apartment complex in south London, in an area soon to be developed. Its construction is almost completed but unlike MAXXI Castle House makes its entrance to London architectural scene with a ''green'' first: the full integration of wind turbines in its design. For that reason it surely paves the way for the next commercial hi-rises to follow.

More on Castle House:
http://playground4architecture.blogspot.com/2010/05/castle-house-elephant-and-castle-2010.html

Text/photos
Fotini Georgakopoulou-Stelios Minotakis, architects
PG4A: PlayGround4Architecture