MAÏS

ASAP

Location: Nice, France

Surface: 40.000 m²

Program: Museum, Research Center

Year: 2019

Status: Published Master Thesis

Themes: Cultural, Sustainability, Science, Landscape

Team: Andrea Battistoni, Alberto Berruto, Artem Velychko

The site of the project is located in the city of Nice along the Var river, a territorial reality not yet successfully integrated with the urban structure. The valley of the river, in- deed, stands in the future perspective of the city development concerning the urban expansion and the environmental integration. The purpose of the project is to converge these two characters through a diffused museum: the Museum for Art and Sustainable Interaction.

The first phase was devoted to the territorial analysis of the valley and three main areas of intervention were identified: a southern one, more linked to the urban tissue, a central one, em- bodying the infrastructural connection and a northern one related to natural landscape.</span></p><p><span style=”white-space: pre-wrap;”>During the second phase, this last location was chosen to host the concentrated architectural intervention. The site itself presents multiple challenging features of agricultural heritage, biodiversity footprint and mobility network. The diffused design approach is recreated in a layout that combines existing traces with a new spatial composition, and is based on a volumetric fading into nature.

The museum is developed in three main sections with different typological identities: museum cluster, underground research, landscape towers; the cluster holds culture, the research fosters education and the towers disclose the experience.

The whole project is placed in a landscape that underlines the importance of biodiversity and stimulates a respectful interaction between people and nature. Therefore, the museum has been called MAIS: Musée de l’Art et de l’Interaction Soutenable.