FLORENCE OPERA HOUSE -

FLORENCE

At the urban scale, the project aims to make an efficient reconnection between the city and the Parco delle Cascine while increasing available public spaces. The creation of a new system of open pedestrian areas defines the two auditoriums volumes and the open-air cavea. 

The artificial stage system of the walkable roof evokes the natural form of the Cascine through a pedestrian inclined plane which crosses the Macinante ditch on the southwest side. The whole space is specifically dedicated to music and has a great urban and landscaping value. As system of typically Tuscan terraces and open spaces, it has a urban, architectural and visual connection with the built surroundings and the entire city of Florence. 

In the local context, the project is designed to be an Europe-wide cultural complex, more precisely the Park of Music and Culture, wherein the auditorium monumental volumes and the connected services with the important preexisting buildings (Leopolda) want to create a new urban pole for musical and cultural activities. On the architectural scale, the project ensures the highest quality required for a modern musical complex, through extremely elevated performance levels for opera, concert, chamber and rock music within a real multifunctional flexible place of great potential. 

The concept is the result of pure architecture: a wide basement or a sort of sloping plinth holding two large music rooms and the enigmatic volume of the scene tower. A monumental project measured by a number of internal and external people-oriented paths. 

Photo credits: Studio Maggi by Moreno Maggi