ARX

The building is located on the edge of the town, on an irregular plot bordered by two-storey houses, both detached and semi-detached. Across the street stands the Health Centre, an institutional building of considerable volume. The project involved an extensive remodelling of the existing building, reworking its structure, spaces, services and overall image, and roughly doubling its gross floor area. Along the street, the building's footprint respects the existing alignment.

The new volumes emerge within the interior of the plot, which was closed off from the street, creating an inner garden. The set of design constraints led the architectural discourse to unfold through a juxtaposition of volumes with a relative autonomy from one another. The partial reuse of the existing building, together with its constructive and functional correction, retaining little more than the structure, constituted the first element of the project. Attached to it is a narrow volume running along the full length of the existing building, articulating old and new, which accommodates not only circulation and access but also all of the building's technical infrastructure. The new volumes are anchored to this spine: the large Ria Hall, with its considerable ceiling height; the central black "tower" of the Temporary Exhibitions, enigmatic, floating on the water; and the volume housing the Administration, Library and Cafeteria.

Water, visible from every volume, becomes the connecting element of the Museum experience. Being, in fact, the very basis of its maritime theme, as well as necessary for firefighting, it is also a potential exhibition field.