Building a museum – especially a modern art museum - is not an easy task. It takes a specific knowledge of such a place’s needs and the ability to think in an unconventional way. With this in mind, and taking into account also authoritative suggestions from the renowned architecture historian Bruno Zevi, and from Renato Pedio, Parisi suggests that a team be formed to work on the project: Maurizio Sacripanti (1916-1996), an architect from Rome, would handle the general structure of the project; Giuseppe Noris (1924-1989), an engineer from Luino, would coordinate the works; Riccardo Colella, an architect from Rome, would handle the decorations of the building. The board of the commune decides in favor of Parisi’s suggestion on November 13, 1979. G.V.Parisi fully cooperates with the team, contributing to keeping the whole project within the logic of the museum panel he wanted since the beginning.
A careful examination of the area results in the decision to build the museum near the mouth of the River Giona. It takes several years – from 1981 to 1998 – for the building to be completed; its artistic value, though, becomes evident as soon as the basic structure is finished. In 1992 the “bridge-museum” wins the prestigious award “Premio Nazionale IN/ARCH 1991/92”; the jury was composed of five architects: Giuliano Gresleri, Sergio Lenci, Manfredi Nicoletti, Enzo Zacchiroli and Bruno Zevi. We think the jury wrote the most competent comment possible about the project, therefore we will just transcribe it here:
“The project of a bridge-museum on the River Giona by Sacripanti perfectly fits his recent tradition in design, for which he is considered a master of modern architecture; he has not been adequately studied and appreciated in relation to the development of architecture in Italy. The project is yet another link in the chain of famous works by Sacripanti, all of which bear witness to the pleasure of mutation, continuous invention, the oscillation between rationalism and organicism, the unfinished and the “open creation”. Sacripanti has created in Maccagno a living organism that develops in an uninterrupted series of paths that integrate into the natural elements (water, air, sky, trees), making the place an integral part of the project and using it as a tangible building material, as opposed to a mere metaphor or rhetorical hint. The concrete organism is mirrored in the river and suspended between air and water; its details have the natural beauty of creation, and bend the artificial to a desire to be a part of nature. The lights, uniquely suggestive, shimmer between green and blue.
The plastic qualities of the building and the skillful combination of spaces for exhibitions and spaces for people create a labyrinth that can be explored and understood thoroughly; this building is capable of communicating architectural values in the most genuine tradition of modern architecture.” Noris died in 1989, Sacripanti in 1996; the completion of the museum took a very long time because of the large amount of funds necessary, which forced the commune to involve both Provincia di Varese and Regione Lombardia in the project.
Photo
https://www.museoparisivalle.it/en/the-museum/museum-architecture#sigProIdfaff33214c