The Sydney Opera House, the Beaubourg in Paris and the works of Pier Luigi Nervi in Italy are all masterpieces of architecture and at the same time of structural engineering. Starting from these and other iconic buildings, the Technoscape exhibition on at Maxxi in Rome explores the relationship between architecture, structural engineering and ecological, technological and digital innovation.
The Technoscape - The Architecture of Engineers exhibition open to the public from October 1, 2022 to April 10, 2023, adds a new piece to a line of research already pursued by the MAXXI. The National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome has in fact, for some time, been engaged in exploring the important relationship between art, architecture, science and new technologies.
The exhibition narrative starts with iconic buildings created thanks to the collaboration born between structural designers and masters of architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Jörn Utzon, Louis Kahn, Renzo Piano, Rem Koolhaas, SANAA, Toyo Ito, Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma and Christian Kerez, to name a few.
A long journey through time and space, featuring over 40 masterpieces selected from the post-war period to the present day and presented to the public divided into eight thematic areas based on the techniques or materials used. Some of the works featured include: Pier Luigi Nervi's Palazzetto dello Sport in Rome, Frei Otto's Olympic Multihalle in Munich, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers' Beaubourg in Paris and, continuing outside Europe's borders, Ove Arup' Sydney Opera House, Lina Bo Bardi and Figuereido Ferraz's São Paulo Museum, Buckminster Fuller's domes, Mahendra Raj's Hall of Nations in Delhi, Beda Amuli's market in Dar Es Salaam or the masterpieces by famous Japanese structural engineers such as Mamoru Sasaki.
To cast a glance towards the future, the exhibition is enriched by the installations and experiments of seven university research centres from around the world including ETH Zurich, the MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and the Eucentre Foundation of the IUSS in Pavia, highlighting the research being carried out in the field of technologies, new materials, environmental issues, as well as digital manufacturing and robotics.
Technoscape is complemented by the spotlight exhibition inGenio. Visionary ideas by Sergio Musmeci curated by Tullia Iori and dedicated to the pioneering projects designed by Sergio Musmeci, whose archive is kept in the MAXXI Architecture Collections.
(Agnese Bifulco)
Images courtesy of Fondazione MAXXI
Title: Technoscape L'Architettura dell'Ingegneria / The Architecture of Engineers
Location: Fondazione MAXXI | Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo Ministero della Cultura
via Guido Reni, 4A - 00196 Roma - Italy
curated by Maristella Casciato and Pippo Ciorra
1st October 2022 – 10th April 2023
maxxi.art | #technoscape
Captions & Credits
01 Toyo Ito, Mutsuro Sasaki, ‘Meiso no Mori’ Municipal Funeral Hall, Kakamigahara (2006) Courtesy Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects
02 Foster + Partners, Eckersley O'Callaghan, Steve Jobs Theater, Cupertino, 2017. Foto di Nigel Young Courtesy Nigel Young / Foster + Partners
03 Alexander Graham Bell kissing his wife Mabel Hubbard Gardiner Bell, who is standing in a tetrahedral kite, Baddeck, Nova Scotia Credit Prints and Photographs Division Washington, Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ds-06863
04 - 05 Pier Luigi Nervi, Annibale Vitellozzi, Palazzetto dello Sport, , Rome 1958-1960 Archivio Pier Luigi Nervi, Collezione MAXXI Architettura Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
06 Walter Bauersfeld - Zeiss Planetarium, Jena 1922 Credit ZEISS Archive
07 Kenzo Tange, Yoshikatsu Tsuboi, Mamoru Kawaguchi Yoyogi National Gymnasium (Tokyo, 1964) Courtesy Kawaguchi & Engineers
08 Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov, Shukhov Tower, Mosca, 1922 ©Shukhov Tower Foundation
09 Beda J. Amuli, Soko la Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam, 1974. Credit Benedikt Redmann Courtesy Benedikt Redmann
10 SOM, Broadgate Exchange House, Londra, 1990 © SOM
11 - 12 Jørn Utzon, Hall Todd & Littlemore, Ove Arup and Partners, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, 1957-1973. Photo by Robert Baudin Courtesy Arup
13 Tecton Group, Ove Arup, Penguin Pool at London's Regent's Park Zoo, London, 1934. Photo by Tony Taylor Courtesy Arup
14 - 15 LERA, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong, 1990 Photos 1990 Paul Warchol Courtesy Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
16 U2 - ILC Model. High-rise made of U shape elements Credit Anna Mendgen, Chair of Conceptual and Structural Design. TU Berlin
17 livMatS Pavilion: Winding detail of the natrual fibre component Credit © ICD/ITKE/IntCDC University of Stuttgart
18 ShakeLab, Eucentre, Pavia. Credit Massimo Brega copyright Fondazione EUCENTRE
19 Night Shift - Team: Viktoriya Tudzharowa, Benedikt Schambeck, Janna Eberharter, Naomi Neururer, Helen Andres WS2021 – 2022 – RECONFIGURABLE STREET Credit © STUDIO GREG LYNN
20 Resilient Coasts: Forests and Adaptation, for “Technoscape. The architecture of engineers” MAXXI, Rome 2022 Courtesy Princeton University
