Competition to enlarge MAXXI museum in Rome

Typologies Museum Culture / Leisure
City Rome
Country Italy

Five designs have qualified in the competition of ideas for a multipurpose building – along with a system of landscaped public spaces – that would enlarge Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI (Museum of 21st-Century Arts).

The scheme drawn up by Paris-based estudio LAN – in collaboration with SCAPE Architecture, SNA, Bollinger + Grohmann Ingegneria, Franck Boutté Consultants, Bureau Bas Smets, and Folia Consulenze – has placed first among the 103 anonymously submitted entries. The jury – Giovanna Melandri (president), Petra Blaisse, Maria Claudia Clemente, Mario Cucinella, Lorenzo Mariotti – rated highly “its relationship with the urban context and its beautifully designed, generous and accessible hanging garden,” as well as the “sustainable tone of the proposal.” MAXXI HUB is a simple volume of polished concrete and large openings that embraces a garden full of plants, while MAXXI GREEN is a new urban park that surrounds the existing buildings.

The group led by Vacuum Atelier (Italy) has placed second, Resell + Nicca (Norway) third, Arquivio Architects (Spain) fourth, and Galar-Velaz-Gil (Spain) fifth.

The winner will be announced on 12 July, and completion of building works is programmed for 2026.