Enlargement of Italian Culture Institute

In the heart of Paris, between the Institut du Monde Arabe and the Orsay Museum, the Italian Culture Institute, equipped with a large library but lacking spaces for didactics and important exhibitions, intends, with this enlargement proposal, to raise its level of competitivity respect to other great institutes. The new centre plans the realization of two structures: the first - dedicated to shows and reading - entirely underground, realized in glass, steel and surrounded by water, refers to the philosophy of emperor Adrian's space of the sea theatre; the second one, connected to the first, as a rising and transparent space, arranged over three levels, houses the projection halls, expos and school rooms.

Technological message and filter together with the garden, linking element between the levels, the great, double curved glass, illuminated back, communicates visual messages connected to the centre's programs.