CASA ENZO FERRARI PHOTOGRAPHY BY PYGMALION KARATZAS / MUSEUM SERIES II

The Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena Italy is designed by Jan Kaplicky of Future Systems, after winning the competition in 2004. After the passing of Jan Kaplicky in 2009, Andrea Morgante, a former associate of Future Systems and now director of Shiro Studio, was appointed to complete the interiors and oversee the construction, which began in April 2009.  The Museum comprises of two buildings: the Enzo Ferrari birthplace, an early 19th century house, restored to its original condition, and a new Gallery that houses a collection of racing cars built in Modena, displaying the extraordinary makers Ferrari and Maserati. It covers 5,200 sq.m., with a budget of 16 million euros, opened on 10 of March 2012 and aims to attract 200,000 visitors per year.  The new Gallery features innovative construction technologies including a three-dimensional curved aluminium roof and an inclined, double-curved structural glass façade. It is also designed to adopt a wide array of energy-saving solutions such as free-cooling and geothermal energy, applied to such a large public building in Italy for the first time. With its 3,300 square metres of double-curved aluminium, the roof is the first application of aluminium in this way on such a large scale. Working together with boat builders whose familiarity with organic sculpted forms and waterproofing made them the ideal partner, and cladding specialists, the form is constructed from aluminium sheets fitted together using a patented tongue and groove system.

Andrea Morgante explains at the project description:
“Kaplický wanted to create a sensitive dialogue between the two exhibition buildings that showed consideration for Ferrari’s early home and underscored the importance of the museum as a unified complex made up of several elements. The views out of the new exhibition building dramatically frame the house and workshop, while views from outside the house and workshop immediately reveal the function and content of the new exhibition building. The height of the new exhibition building reaches a maximum of 12 metres – the same height as the house – with its volume expanding below ground level. In addition, the new building gently curves around the house in a symbolic gesture of appreciation.”

The photo shoot took place on the 30th of July 2014. The dialogue between the old and the new as intended by Kaplicky, both in form and texture, was one of the subjects to explore photographically (images 1 to 5). Emphasis was also given on the entrance foyer, another key elements of the design, as it provides the visual link between the new gallery space and the old Ferrari residence and its concave shape allows for multiple vistas and diminishes the indoor-outdoor threshold (images 6 to 8). The gallery itself being a single fluid space where the different levels, walls and partitions merge, presents unobstracted points of view and the desired pedestals to showcase the extraordinary designs (images 9 to 12).
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