Tubular cells: a new subterranean civic exhibition centre in the heart of Bologna is signposted by a pair of luminous and ethereal entrance pavilions - Design Review

Architectural Review, The, Oct, 2003 by Catherine Slessor

In common with most Italian cities, the centre of Bologna is a densely textured historic core with little opportunity for contemporary additions or interventions. But just off the Piazza Maggiore is an eye-catching new structure that marks a distinct break with the past. Like a pair of frozen dewdrops, two shimmering, oval cylinders signpost the entrance to a new underground exhibition centre.

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Designed by local architect Mario cucinella, the 800 sq m centre is a municipal showcase for current and future architecture, infrastructure and urban design projects in Bologna. Formerly, this underground lair was a dreary shopping mall which lay defunct for around 20 years before the city authorities decided to find a new use for it. The prominent city centre location will no doubt attract tourists as well as locals, enticed by the spectacle of the entrance pavilions. Cucinella is known for his elegant, ecologically aware architecture usually executed in lightweight materials, so it is no surprise to see these signatures here. However, in the context of historic Bologna, the scheme has attracted some predictable controversy, but the translucent structures touch the ground extremely lightly and could be easily removed if required. As it is, their physical and visual delicacy sets up a delicious tension with their surroundings, especially the adjacent eighteenth-century Casa di Re Enzo with its heavy, terracotta-coloured stone walls and ramparts.

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The twin pavilions sit slightly raised above piazza level. Each is wrapped in an outer skin of curved clear glass and an inner layer made up of transparent vertical Plexiglas tubes 120mm in diameter. (Cucinella likens then to a cluster of transparent bamboo stalks.) While admitting daylight, the double skin also plays disarming optical tricks, fracturing and filtering views in and out. When natural light shines on the tubes the curved facades appear to vibrate; at night, coloured lights set inside the tubes transform the droplet pavilions into two radiant, pulsating forms. It may be an uncharacteristic new Bolognese landmark, but some of the vision required to realize it might fruitfully rub off on the city's longer term architectural endeavours.

Architect

Mario Cucinella Architects, Bologna

Photographs

Jean De Calan