Good News: Women in Architecture
Location
National Museum of 21st Century Arts (MAXXI), Rome, Italy
On View
December 16, 2021 – September 11, 2022
Curators
Pippo Ciorra, Elena Motisi, and Elena Tinacci
Exhibition Design
Matilde Cassani
Tags
Good News: Women in Architecture (Buone Nuove: Donne in architettura) illustrates Jeanne Gang’s impact on contemporary architecture using new and archival design materials made by Jeanne and Studio Gang for the Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History, the first major addition to the storied Manhattan museum in more than 20 years.
Curated by MAXXI’s Pippo Ciorra, Elena Motisi, and Elena Tinacci, the Good News exhibition brings together the work of groundbreaking designers from across history and the globe, showcasing the critical work of historical architects and groups including Charlotte Perriand and the collectives of the 1970s, as well as more recent figures.
Representing Jeanne’s unique contribution to this trajectory are models, sketches, and ephemera that capture the iterative process of research and making that drove the Gilder Center’s design—including the close observation and analysis of nature.
The star of the show is an inhabitable, 1:10-scale model of the building’s spectacular Central Exhibition Hall. Designed and fabricated specially for the exhibition by Studio Gang’s Model Shop team, it reveals the smooth, porous concrete structure of the Hall and allows visitors to walk through the space, experiencing its fluid interior as if they were giants.
Modeled for the exhibition using hand-cut and assembled layers of coated cardboard, the Gilder Center’s actual Central Exhibition Hall is being constructed using shotcrete. This fluid application of concrete eliminates the waste created by typical formwork and achieves a visually- and spatially-continuous interior, which “turns outward” to form a welcoming major entrance to the museum.
Archival project materials on display include sketchbooks and a collage by Jeanne Gang, along with models from various stages of the design process.
A presentation model at 1” = 40’-0” locates the Gilder Center within the American Museum of Natural History’s larger campus on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Studio Gang’s participation in Good News is made possible thanks to the generous support of:
Related
ArchDaily — MAXXI Museum Celebrates Female Architects Through Exhibition
“Through drawings, models, and site-specific installations, the Practice section presents the work of 11 distinguished contemporary architects: Elizabeth Diller, Dorte Mandrup, Mariam Kamar, Anupama Kundoo, Yvonne Farrel and Shelley McNamara, Lina Ghotmeh, Jeanne Gang, Kazuyo Sejima, Benedetta Tagliabue, Lu Wenyu and the multidisciplinary collective Assemble. Together, they showcase the increasing presence and mark of women in architecture.”
