Museo dell’Emigrazione Italiana
Genova
Year: 2019
Client: Comune di Genova
Location: Genova
Performance: Final and executive design and CSP, including the exhibition layout for the functional adaptation, restoration and conservative renovation of the Commenda de Pré, for the construction of the Museum of Italian Emigration.
Project amount: € 4.070.458,32
Status: completed (tender awarded)
Architectural, structural and facilities project: Gnosis Progetti
The Commenda restoration project involved numerous professionals: architects, engineers, architectural and artistic restorers, and geologists.
A meticulous work carried out in close relationship with the Region, the Municipality, the Museum management and the Superintendence.
A meticulous work carried out in close relationship with the Region, the Municipality, the Museum management and the Superintendence.
The staging
The MEI is a journey through time as well as current events to explain the hopes, pain, emotions, and expectations of the many Italians who left their homelands in search of a better life elsewhere.
The exhibition concept of the new Museum of Italian Emigration starts from the idea of presenting the exhibition and the topics covered in it in an active way,
transforming the visit path
into an immersive and interactive experience, in which to experience the adventure of emigration through stories and situations, in the “in his shoes” philosophy.“When we were told that Gnosis would design the restoration of this monument and the setting up of the museum telling the story of Italian migration,” explains the president of Gnosis Progetti, Francesco Felice Buonfantino, “we immediately thought of the extraordinary coincidence between the place and the permanence of the function. Migration is always a story of abandonment of roots, a story of uprooting.
Men arriving in Genoa to embark, often for unknown destinations, entrusted the Commenda with their memories, and these impregnated the walls, seeped into the foundations, were absorbed into the earth. Our task was nothing less than to
bring these tales and memories back to life
.The restoration
The choices made on the architectural surfaces started from the desire to eliminate degrading agents and preserve the original patina, ensuring anefficient coexistence
between the new and existing materials.The restoration of the façade and the closure of the loggias made it possible to protect the delicate wall face attacked by smog and weathering and to insulate the Museum from the acoustic interference of the dual thoroughfare on which it faces. The proposed system was shared with the Soprintendenza and its design ensures the integrity of the elevation’s reading.
An
appropriate system of lighting
from the interior makes the loggias in the evening hours true lanterns toward the city. The re-functionalization interventions have included all the adaptations to overcome architectural barriers, aimed at accessibility: the layout project is designed to offer the entire public the possibility of accessing the Museum by breaking down not only architectural barriers, but also sensory barriers and enhancing good practicesaimed at inclusion
.The project contemplates important plant engineering works aimed at the usability of the Museum and its layout, with the objective of minimizing the footprint of the ducts: on the ground floor, a floating floor allows them to be conveyed below the floor level for easy inspection.
On the second floor are concentrated the most significant consolidation works both for the adjustment of the horizontal structures to the new loads, and for the containment of the thrusts of the roof structure and the obvious phenomena of “buckling” of the masonry.
The
The Commenda Square was redeveloped through the redesign of the ramps connecting the different elevations and with a totem to signal the presence of the Museum in the city, but not only. It is a “Tree,” a powerful symbol of life that multiplies, in space and time, in an
The
plant design approach
was oriented toward regulatory compliance and energy conservation. The systems serving the monumental complex were, in fact, conceived with the intention of realizing energy-efficient systems both in the passive elements subject to intervention, mainly consisting of some fixtures to be replaced, and in the active elements of the various systems.The Commenda Square was redeveloped through the redesign of the ramps connecting the different elevations and with a totem to signal the presence of the Museum in the city, but not only. It is a “Tree,” a powerful symbol of life that multiplies, in space and time, in an
infinite variety of shapes
and its “roots” is given a strong symbolic value connected to the theme of emigration.
