Il "Quarto Tempo" del museo in Europa. Architettura, funzioni e spazio pubblico nel museo contemporaneo. Cagliari come caso studio

This research investigates museums in Europe, in the transition between the Twentieth and Twenty-first century: this period was called “Quarto tempo" - Fourth time- by Luca Basso Peressut (2005) with reference to Franco Albini, who in 1958 defined “Terzo tempo“ -Third time - in the museum's evolution, the cultural and historical context after World War II. Museum is investigated, through the presentation of case studies, in its architectural features, in its functions and as a public space, representative of collective identity. Research tools are the bibliographical survey, the direct investigation, the interview with the authors, the metadesign. The method used is the debtor of the essay “Funzioni e archiettura del museo” - Functions and Architecture of museum - where the museum, a theme of both theoretical reflection and architectural design for the essay's author, is the link between architecture and reality. The investigation about museum's architecture and functions follows the method and issues highlighted by Albin in his essay. These are the meaning of the collection; the role of architecture as a medium between work of art and public; the “public concern”; the "living museum"; the urban role of museum; museum as a mean for civil and cultural growth. The research consists of two parts: the first, a theoretical study, is a survey and an investigation about recent museums' projects in Europe; the second assumes as a case study the city of Cagliari. The aim is to outline the significant trends in contemporary European museums' context, setting them in their historical development and outlining a possible evolution. These considerations can be the base of reflection for a metadesign addressed to Cagliari. PART I: - Chapter 1 outlines the method of the research through the analysis of Albini's essay. “Funzioni e Architettura del Museo” . References are made to Albini's design research and to the historical and cultural context in which it was developed, that of the post-war “musei della ricostruzione” - museums of the reconstruction - when the architecture of museum seemed to summarize the main themes of the debate about the civil role of architecture, the relationship between tradition and innovation, the role of museum as cultural representation of identity. In this context, the architecture of the Italian museums proposed innovations in the language and in the spaces' organization. - Chapter 2, note the experiences of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Guggenheim Bilbao, outlines the themes of architecture and functions of museum in the transition between the Twentieth and Twenty-first century, characterized by a very high number of intervention, a museum boom on a global scale (BASSO PERESSUT 2005, 11 and GUERZONI, 2014), and by the prevalence of "icon museums" (GREUB GREUB 2006) , designed to support city branding operations, showing the hybridization with the models for the entertainment buildings and influences deriving from the economy of tourism (VIVANT 2008). Museum, in the turn of the millennium, becomes an evolution sensor of the art research and of new political, economic and social demands, a public space and a new pole of global cities, often becoming more significant than its very content – the collection. These characters lead to its definition as a "hyper consumism museum" (PURINI DE CARLO 2002). At the same time new "universal museums" were designed with the expertise of the top European museum institution, to support the prestige of emerging countries. The central part of this research exposes, through dedicated essays, “Schede”, some recent euopean museums, accomplished by programs started in the early 2000s and brought to completion between 2012 and 2015. This time span was chosen considering as significant cultural and economic turnpoint of this century: 2001, a date that has made clear the role of information and networking and the global dynamics that bind the planet; 2006, that saw the predominance of urban population growth and the power of the city; then 2007, whith the crisis of the economic model based on the continued growth of consumptions that characterized the second half of the Twentieth century. Economics models are joined by new cultural models and new global relations, and new models for museums. About sisxty the museums were surveyd in this research. Five of them, national museums of paramount importance and historic foundation, are described in stort essays illustrating their architectural design and planning, as exemplary cases. These museums resulted from recent renovations or extensions works and new cionstruction. They are the Louvre-Lens (SANAA, 2012), the Rijksmuseum (Cruz y Ortiz, 2013) and the Museum plein in Amsterdam, the MuCEM in Marseille (Ricciotti and Paper, 2013), the British Museum in London (Foster and Partners in 2000, HOK 2003 Rogers Stirk Harbour and 2014), the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence (Architects Natalini and Guicciardini & Magni, 2015). The latter is described by the words of its author, Adolfo Natalini, interviewed about just a few months after the conclusion of the renovation works, transcribed in a “Conversation about two museums”: the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and the project Nuovi Uffizi, in which Natalini took part. Both located in Florence, they mirror Italian reality and the complex relationship between the museum's architecture with art and history. - Chapter 3 concludes Part I, and tries to delineate the trends. Museum is a public space and it is meant for people, it can define the identity of cities, it is shifting from the former role of "landmark", of “icon”, to that of "place maker", supporting the construction of identity and empowering community by building relationships between people and increasing the social capital of communities. Museum welcomes among its models art factories and the art evolution trends, that are experimenting form of shared experiences between the audience and the artists. New museums decrease the distance between art and science, by exposing the laboratories and research activities. They establish strong relationships with the urban context and build synergies with other institutions operating in the field of the knowledge economy. Museum becomes the leading factor for Soft Power of contemporary cities (LORD Blankenberg, 2015). 14 15. These trends are related to changes in the global economy, as the growing importance of the knowledge economy and the sharing economy in the more advanced countries, showing a different attitude to energy resources and the and information technology (RIFKIN 2011 LORD 2015). This economic changes are defining new cultural models and a new relationship with the public of museum, different from the economic and cultural models of the hyperconsuption of the late Twentieth century and the iconic models in the architecture of museums, that considered the public of museum as a public of consumers. If it is impossible to define or define a clear trend in the spatial forms and architecture of the museum, this seems to welcome the new stimuli and cultural issues shaping the space of the museum as shared space, increasingly open, linked physically and synergistically to the other centers of learning and knowledge, in the physical space of the city and in the global space of the Web. In Italy, where museums are closely linked to the cultural heritage and the historic city, and the historic museums insititutions seem to deal with fatigue with contemporary needs, the recent experience of the Museum of the Opera del Duomo, fully integrates into a system that altogether rethinks the monumental theme of the historic city and the public city. The museum shows, through the organization of its spaces and its language, the relationship between the work of art, architecture and urban space. This quality of the museum reminds to the same city of Florence, its history, its heritage. PART II is dedicated to the city of Cagliari as a case study - Chapter 1 reviews the museums of the city, its heritage, its culture and research related places and insitutions - Chapter 2 is dedicated to the main museum district, the Cittadella dei Museum, located in the old Savoy Arsenal in the historical quarter of Castello. The architecture of the Cittadella dei Musei applied contemporary forms on the architecture of the historic city, and it is still an examples of a happy synthesis between history, memory, and innovation - Chapter 3, Hypothesis for a Museum / City, following the example of the Cittadella, welcoming the reflections on the historic urban landscape and the strategic role of the historic town (UNESCO 2011) and the strategic role of museums in defining and promote the identity and the cultural landscape (JALLA 2013 - ICOM 2016), tries to define a system of museums spread in the historic city, capable of supporting primarily the knowledge of the city and places and their quest for identity. A Museum/City, a system of museums, historic and monumental sites, of public spaces of the city are able to compose a system based on knowledge -of the places and heritage - and activating knowledge, assuming the city itself as "living collection" .