Betile

What: International Design Competition Regional Museum of Nuragic and Contemporary Art of the Mediterranean (2nd phase /10 finalists)
Who: Regione Autonoma della Sardegna
Where: Cagliari - Italy
When: 2006
AREA: 5000 sq. m
AREA49: Marilena Magalotti | m&a_mutti&architetti

The real museum is the whole region, the object of our project is the Sardinian territory, what we have called 'medialandscape'. The Betile, intended as a new building to be built in the Sant'Elia area of Cagliari, can only be a hub, the centre of the regional network: if it involves a museum, the museum covers the whole region. The Betile is the gateway, the showcase of a system composed of the Cagliari hub, the 80 'consolidated' archaeological sites and the 8000 sites still to be discovered.

The museum that we propose is progressively becoming part of the external environment, passing through a porch with closed environment and is able to control light and air in differentiated mode.
We imagined an architecture that changes its mood according to the weather condition, a metereopathic building, a structure that is built from temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, sun heat and wind direction.

Therefore the project is configured as a modular and extendible system whose basic structure consists of a rhomboidal arch obtained by the rounded intersection of four sails, two of which are larger. The latter are oriented to the south and south-west to maximize sun exposure. Of the two smaller canopies, the one facing north-west is closed, and the one facing north transmits diffused light inside through a large window. The large arch generates a single large interior space, whose maximum height almost doubles that of the supporting surface of the arch. The other solution, adopted whenever the height of the single arch is too high, is an element with nine small arches, similar to the one just described, joined together to form a single structure. The juxtaposition of the two different modules on the area determines the planivolumetric layout of the project and the relationship between the programmes hosted and the waterfront, between the museum and the city. The modular system used in the museum in Cagliari can also be reused in the Cagliari area near the nuragic sites to provide space for exhibitions, events or other activities.