The opening of the Pecci Center for Contemporary Art in Prato, Italy is less than two months away, with the completion of the extension designed by architect Maurice Nio. The Pecci Center will be the only public museum in Italy to open in the decade 2010-2020, becoming part of an international network of re-openings which includes renowned cultural institutions, such as the new wing of the Tate Modern in London designed by Herzog & de Meuron and the new Whitney Museum of American Art by Renzo Piano in New York City.

The Pecci Center, signed by Maurice Nio ―the Dutch architect, founder of Rotterdam-based studio NIO architecten, boasts a unique collection in Italy with over 1.000 works by leading international artists: from Anish Kapoor to Jan Fabre, from Jannis Kounellis to Sol LeWitt, as well as the great Italians of the last century, such as Mario Merz or Michelangelo Pistoletto. A patrimony regrettably sacrificed in the storerooms for a long time due to a lack of exhibition space.

To ensure that these assets be given due recognition, in the early 2000s the Pecci Center decided to double its exhibition space and, at the same time, renovate the original building by Gamberini, some aspects of which had become critical and obsolete. The enlargement works, funded by the Municipality of Prato and the Region of Tuscany (through European Funds), started in 2006 and focused on the construction of a new wing with strong architectural impact, connected to the original building, whose functions and services were redeveloped and upgraded in the meantime. 

Once the works are complete the complex will cover a surface area of almost 10,000 square meters, and in addition to the exhibition spaces there will be an archive and a specialist library with a holding of over 50,000 volumes, an open-air theater with 1,000 seats, a cinema/ auditorium with 140 seats, a performance space with 400, a bookshop, a pub/bistro and a restaurant, in addition to workshops and various meeting rooms.

The existing building is entirely maintained and left completely intact and the new volume was developed around this volume, in the shape of a ring.

The project for the extension of the Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, is part of a predominantly industrial area, economically vibrant but still devoid of any prominent architectural feature. It is conceived as an extension and connection for the original building, designed by Italo Gamberini with a profile that was strongly influenced by the surrounding industrial landscape and completed in 1988. The complex is located near the East exit of the A11 autostrada, along the highway that connects Florence with Pistoia. 

The extension has two levels: the ground floor hosts all facilities aimed at visitors and opens itself toward the city by means of a glazed facade; the upper floor is devoted to the exhibitions, its outer envelope a warm, bronze-colored metal skin. Besides hosting new functions, the ring allows the preexisting building to double its surface area and to diversify its flows and trajectories. 

“Sensing the Waves” is the name Nio himself gave to his project. A declaration of intent and a program. The antenna is a sensor, a system capable of intercepting (and transmitting) forms of creativity and artistic productions in the region. Its form can be strategically interpreted in many ways, according to the viewer’s imagination and fantasy: a disc, a ring, a long wave, a horseshoe, a spaceship, a sliver of the moon, a piercing as someone already described it. A scenic presence, an urban signal, an attention-grabbing element. An object that senses, stimulates reactions, elicits visions.

“As opposed to the rather rigid, mechanical character of the existing museum building ―partly inspired by the industrial architecture in Prato―, the new project”, recounts Nio, “looks fluid and ecstatic. It embraces the existing building and touches it only there where needed for the circular plan.” In addition, Nio’s project aims at establishing an interaction with the city around: the green area around the Pecci Center ―formerly the site for an open-air art collection― was reorganized and made more practical and more visible both from the boulevards around the museum.
Read more
Read less

More information

Label
Architect
Text
Maurice Nio (Nio architecten)
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Design team
Text
Joan Almekinders, Emanuela Guerrucci, Maurice Nio, Luca Rimatori, Giuseppe Vultaggio
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Collaborators
Text
Landscape design.- Luca Piantini, Michele Faranda
Structural engineer.- Ingenieursbureau Zonneveld
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Area
Text
7,815 sqm
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Dates
Text
Start design.- 2006
Completed.- 2016
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Budget
Text
€ 7,800,000
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Client
Text
Mrs. E. Pecci/Municipality of Prato
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Director.-
Text
Paolo Bartalini (2007-2012) Antonella Cacciato (2012) Massimo Lastrucci (2013-2016)
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Maurice Nio (1959) graduated in 1988 from the Faculty of Architecture of TU Delft, his thesis project being a villa for Michael Jackson: the most peculiar thesis project that year. This project has been of vital importance to his hybrid approach. Through a mixture of mythological and pragmatic mental processes, cryptic and at the same time utterly transparent design strategies, he has realized projects at BDG Architekten Ingenieurs (1991-1996), such as the enormous waste incinerator aviTwente. Since 2000 he operates from his own design studio NIO architecten (www.nio.nl). His books “You Have the Right to Remain Silent” (1998) and “Unseen I Slipped Away” (2004), just as his exhibition “SNAKE SPACE”, were very successful. His upcoming book “The Rule of Passion in Architecture” will released by the end of 2016.
Read more
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...