The budget assigned to address this program (€80,000, VAT included) is also quite generous. So, what is the challenge here?
For us, the challenge is to build this temporary installation with a useful proposal to reuse it after its disassembly. Therefore, “What happens next?” has become a central question for us in this project for two reasons:
1. We assume this installation as an extension of the museum itself. MAXXI doesn’t exist just to exhibit curatorial projects (as we believe this installation shouldn’t exist just to provide a beautiful and comfortable external space); its mission serves a higher purpose that overcomes the physical limits of the museum, such as to promote debate, make visitors aware of the present-day political and social context, and, consequently, foster strategies for a positive development of the city. By defining what happens next with this temporary installation and informing the visitors about it, we would be taking a step forward in this mission.
2. Defining what happens next is not part of the requested program. However, we assume it is part of an implicit program. Considering that any building act implies exploiting natural resources and spending energy, “recycling” and “reusing” represent a serious and operative strategy to promote the ecological effectiveness of this installation.
We started in the inverse way, by defining what happens next before defining what the installation is.

What Happens Next – After the installation disassembly?
It’s well known that the brutal social issue Rome is experimenting with at this very moment is related to displaced people (refugees and forced immigrants). We propose to use this opportunity, these resources, and this energy to build something permanent to address some of the current needs of these people, even on a very small scale. Not as a charity move, but rather as a simple and pragmatic optimization of the money and material we would spend anyway.
It’s also true that we are outsiders in this field. We don’t know either what those needs are or how a building may make a small contribution in this matter. Taking it into account, we talked with some institutions that have been developing recognized work in that area. We’ve found Diritti al Cuore, which in fact is currently in need of a small medical center, to take care of some urgent hygienic and health situations. Rather than the installation, we started designing this building according to their needs.

What Happens Before? > The Installation
The prefab pieces are used to address in a very direct way the YAP MAXXI 2018 requested program, creating a “concrete pergola” that will act as a temporary and shaded external space to host several activities. The formal appearance of this installation will correspond to what it really is: a provisory stage for a few concrete pieces that will become a building soon. Actually, it does look almost like a building site.
This pergola will be ventilated, water-pulverized, and illuminated through a solar energy system integrated into the roof of the installation, which activates these actions only when it detects the presence of someone. The wooden logs needed to accommodate the pieces during transportation will be used as informal seats around the area, as well as some residual concrete blocks that will be taken from the factory’s depository at no cost. The concrete pieces are partially coated with natural cork panels. They work as “pillows” to prevent damage during the transportation process, and they will also work as a thermal insulation layer for the final building.
Apart from these technological and material choices, the core of the sustainable approach claimed by this installation resides in the fact that it transforms something temporary into something permanently useful.