Enzo Ferrari Museum

Can a work of architecture have two legitimate fathers? The new Casa Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena seems to stir the debate.

Admittedly, the amazing building that opened in early March in this small yet world-famous Italian town would not have been possible without Jan Kaplický's inspiring concept. The museum might not have been completed at all, however, without the participation of Italian architect Andrea Morgante, former associate director of Future Systems and, since 2009, head of London-based Shiro Studio.

'Jan and I were close friends,' says Morgante. 'We worked side by side for eight years, developing a symbiotic relationship that relied on mutual support.' After Kaplický died in 2009 and Future Systems dissolved, Morgante accepted the challenging task of completing the building. 'The museum is Kaplický's last piece of work, and it embodies most of his principles,' the designer says. 'As on-site construction started shortly after his death, I worked on the project every day in a constant effort to keep all details highly compatible with Future System's vision and architectural language.'

The three intervening years do not tell the whole story, though. The construction phase did not end until almost eight years after the competition that saw Future Systems beat seven international rivals to clinch the commission. Quite a long period, but, as Morgante puts it, 'Good architecture has no expiration date.'

An icon in the making, the Ferrari Museum is instantly recognizable as a Future Systems product. With its gently curving lines - resembling those of a race-car bonnet - it cannot avoid being categorized as 'organic architecture', notwithstanding Morgante's protests: 'Kaplický rarely used "organic" to describe his work. He preferred terms like "sexy", "human" - or even "soft".' Leaving to one side the matter of modifiers, we foresee a role for the structure as a symbol of Modena's urban renewal and its reputation, which rests on a heritage of advanced automotive technology.

From the outside, the building is a nearly identical materialization of renderings that Kaplický made in 2007 - this in spite of several changes made to the brief by the client, Casa Natale Enzo Ferrari Foundation, most of which were based on budgetary concerns. 'This building has been an incredible challenge for every contractor involved,' says Morgante. 'They faced a design that required almost prototypal technical solutions.'

The museum is grafted onto a previously run-down industrial area that includes the house in which Enzo Ferrari was born. The client purchased this particularly piece of land because of the presence of the house, whose restoration was another task for the architects.

'The elongated rural building, which dates back to the turn of the twentieth century, is the project's cultural centre of gravity,' says Morgante. 'Its restoration involved fascinating yet painstaking work. Not only did we have to remove all structures and extensions that were built after Enzo Ferrari sold the property; we also had to adapt the interior, which now holds a permanent exhibition devoted to Ferrari's life.' Designed by Morgante's Shiro Studio, the exhibition presents Ferrari's biography as a gigantic open book, its pages a series of sinuously towering ribs interleafed with innovative displays. The visitor traverses a three-dimensional, vertically orientated landscape filled with objects, written information and vintage film clips.

Curving protectively around the restored house are the extended walls of a new museum pavilion, whose height corresponds to that of the modestly scaled building next to it. Part of the pavilion, in fact, is 4.5 m below ground level. As it rises from the landscape, it reaches forward on both sides to embrace the older complex.

Future Systems' new €14.2-million gallery sports a brilliant yellow roof - a smooth aluminium covering that captures and reflects light. On three of its four sides, the roof becomes a wall, developing continuous and voluptuous curves which are interrupted by several sleekly styled openings - modelled on automotive air vents - that allow natural light to enter the building. The roof is the same colour that Enzo 'The Drake' Ferrari chose for the trademark shield bearing the company's world-renowned prancing horse.

Kaplický envisioned a project with an impressive abundance of daylight. At the front of the building, a vast wall of low-emission glass tilts at an angle of 12.5 degrees and offers a complete view of Enzo Ferrari's birthplace. Light pouring through the roof's north-facing vents floods the interior with a diffuse luminance. The walls and floor of the rather neutral exhibition space are finished in fine white terrazzo. With its regular floor plan, this light, airy space emphasizes the powerful objects on show: a collection of cars - including Ferrari, Maserati and Stanguellini models, among others - that since the early days of motor-racing have brought fame and fortune to Modena.

Neutral, yes - ordinary, no. Cars displayed like works of art stand 40 cm from the floor on specially designed platforms, seemingly afloat in midair. 'It is a new type of car museum, definitely not a garage,' Morgante remembers Kaplický saying. The streamlined pavilion also houses a conference room, a bookshop and a cafeteria. Exemplifying a new, forward-looking institution, the Ferrari Museum is an environmentally friendly, energy-efficient building, with a heating and cooling system that relies on 25 boreholes for the production of geothermal energy.

The client hopes the new museum - which complements an earlier realized Ferrari Museum in Maranello - will attract some 200,000 visitors a year and develop into a landmark destination. A brand-new system of yellow road signs and street furniture marks the way to the site. 'Architecture should have a relationship to the past and one to the future,' said Kaplický. 'Both are equally important. There is no harm in finding the same beauty in the Parthenon as in a jumbo jet.'

The Casa Enzo Ferrari Museum may not be the Parthenon, but it is a timeless project that pairs tradition with innovative architecture and has history walk arm in arm with high technology.