The  Luigi Rovati Foundation Museum is athematic museum of history and culture with the theme of recreating theglorious Etruscan cultural heritage, combining exhibition, conservation,science and education, and scientific research.A building that moves betweenpast, present, and future.It is the most important public cultural building ofthe future in Milan and one of the most inspiring projects of MCA.

The Luigi Rovati FoundationMuseum, winner of the 2020 American Architecture Masterprize.

The museum is a vehicle to presentthe origins of civilization in a modern way, the visitor is able to recreate aglorious cultural heritage and gain inspiration from historical experience inorder to enhance their ability to meet the challenges of the future. Inaddition, due to the complexity of the building's construction, "thefuture" is not only a concept of time but also a high demand for future innovationand technology.

UrbanLounge

The Luigi Rovati Foundation Museum, located on Corso Veneziain Milan, aims to create a spiritual retreat in the heart of the city that willinspire the future in the areas of history, art, and science.

Theproject was born out of the desire of the Foundation Luigi Rovati torestore and extend the historic 19th-century Bocconi-Rizzoli-Carraro palacewithout changing its character and to transform it into a museum dedicated tothe important collections of the Etruscan period. The museum will not only bean exhibition space, but also a cultural centre in the field of conservation,research, and improvement of ancient monuments, providing an academic space forresearch and exchange among scholars exploring Etruscan civilization,establishing international partnerships, organizing thematic conferences andevents, and disseminating historical and cultural knowledge.

Inspirationfrom history

"It's an undergroundmuseum, which doesn't mean it must be a cemetery. After entering, people willfind themselves immersed in a city because the Etruscans practiced the trueconcept of urbanization: the concept of city we call today was invented by theEtruscans, and then inherited and transformed by the Romans."—Chairman of the FoundationGiovanna Forlanelli.

TheEtruscan civilisation was a civilisation that developed in the Etruscan region(the present-day Italian peninsula and the island of Corsica) between the 12thand 1st centuries BC. The Etruscans believed that people went to another worldafter death, so the most impressive art of the Etruscan civilisation was thearchitecture of tombs. There are two types of Etruscan tomb shapes: one is avaulted roof over a circular base built of large stones, the whole of which isthen covered with earth in the shape of a steamed bun. The other is based onthe Etruscan form of dwelling, where a quadrangular base is dug into the groundto create an underground hall.

The design draws inspirationfrom the architectural features of the Etruscan civilisation, alluding to theEtruscan catacomb style of the town of Cerveteri, and aims to evoke aninteraction with the Etruscan civilisation. The building's exhibition spaceextends from the palace above ground to the underground, featuring three largedomes that create a mystical atmosphere of the Etruscan civilisation.

Basedon the Etruscan belief in reaching the other world after death, the buildinguses the contrast between light and dark in the interior to demonstrate thedelicate balance between earthly life and the world of bliss. The effect iscreated by large blocks of bright quartz sandstone, with vessels displayed in transparentdisplay cases at different heights, which appear to float in the air. At thesame time, a slight echoing effect creates a sacred atmosphere and enhances theemotional resonance of the space.

FunctionLayout

Thedesign of the museum includes the re-planning of the entire site, therestoration of the 19th century palace building and gardens, and a two-storeyextension to the ground floor.

Theground floor extension is the main display space for the collection; the formerpalace building is set up for functions related to the museum's activities,including a bookshop, design shop, café, library, conference and event space, temporaryexhibition space, restaurant and offices of the Luigi Rovati Foundation.

The museum's spacious firstfloor foyer, bookshop and design shop connect the café to the interior garden. This makes the museum anopen space for the city, an urban lounge of art and culture that invites peopleto stop and explore.

Flowingunderground space

Passing through the servicecentre, visitors follow a stone staircase into the underground exhibition spaceand begin their journey into Etruria.The 30,000 stone pieces are stackedupwards in layers to form three circular and one large oval undergroundexhibition area, giving the impression of a hollowed-out mining space andpresenting the natural beauty of the building. All of the museum's stone ismade from pietra serena, a natural stone from the Firenzuola quarry in Tuscany.Each piece of stone is individually designed, precisely cut and assembled toachieve formal continuity. At the same time, the horizontal stripes of thestone pieces create a suspended effect and a free-flowing feeling with thereflected light patches of mica in the stone.

Each slab is approximately 125px thick and 1 m long, with a distance of approximately 5 mm between eachadjacent slab. Using the airy nature of the natural sandstone and the gapsbetween the stone pieces, a breathing wall is created where air can circulatenaturally from the integrated unit to the substructure, allowing for good aircirculation and fully solving the problem of ventilation in undergroundbuildings.

The construction of theunderground space began with structural reinforcement by inserting buildingpiles around the existing building, followed by excavation and extension.Finally, the miniature piles that had previously supported the entire buildingwere removed and the roof of the underground space was constructed. Theunderground dome arches out of the ground and forms an earthbag in the garden,which both accentuates the underground space and recalls the image of theCerveteri catacombs.

Exhibition

The exhibition is a journeybetween art and architecture, form and matter, city and civilisation. MCAworks closely with the Luigi Rovati Foundation and Italian archaeologistand art historian Professor Salvatore Settis to design an exhibition programmebased on an in-depth study of over 15,000 objects in the collection. On the onehand, the exhibition space has been transformed into an organic componentcapable of expressing the theme, with the collection appearing to float in gianttransparent cabinets and arranged in a streamlined manner to ensure thecontinuity of each space; on the other hand, a dynamic and immersive experiencehas been created through the integration of historical, archaeological anddigital technologies.

The building has also beensubjected to an in-depth and precise technical study in terms of acoustics.Instead of completely silencing the echoes emanating from the dome's ownstructure, the acoustic solution adopted by the museum attenuates the sound inorder to preserve the visitor's perception of the dome while creating amysterious atmosphere. Also in order to eliminate the reflective effects of thelighting system, the exhibition glass was professionally tailored to maintainan extremely high level of cleanliness.

Fromthe colour characteristics to the materials and the relationship between thevarious exhibition areas, the exhibition window design and spatial layout meetthe highest international standards in terms of aesthetics, functionality,technology and quality, while introducing an element of innovation andexperimentation into the field of museology.

Environmental & EnergySustainability

The project pays greatattention to environmental and energy sustainability in terms of serviceengineering, material selection and use strategies. The building is undergoingthe LEED v4 New Construction and Major Retrofit SILVER certification process.

All the heat and coolingenergy required for air conditioning is obtained through a ground source heatpump and a rooftop photovoltaic system to take advantage of Milan's excellentgeothermal resources. Not only does this reduce carbon emissions and noise, butit also ensures maximum availability of the building's outdoor space.

A fresh air system is used in the interior spacesto purify and filter dust particles and gaseous pollution from the air,ensuring excellent air quality. The addition of thermal insulation to thewell-preserved historic walls, the replacement of all window and door frameswith high thermal and visual performance components and the introduction of anautomatic solar and light comfort controlled shading system have simultaneouslyresulted in a significant improvement in the performance of the buildingenvelope.

(Original image and text of the article: NeiWai)