Manning McBride

Operative Divertissement

What drew my attention immediately was the moment of mixture in McBride’s floor plans. Something strange, yet, familiar. What seems to be a blend of plans and sections also looks like a cautious act of slicing and dividing. The result is weirdly satisfying.

These moments of intersection are highly articulated. The new interior acts as staging device for the existing building while others interlock perfectly to contrast the original context. The sectional elements of the MAXXI are most convincing: here, the ceiling blades are brought back to the space as wall panels to further forward the argument of the interchangeable relationship of museum as typological institution and object on display.

A strong reference is made to the façade elements of Rossi’s Schutzenstrasse project in

Berlin. In comparison to Rossi’s other projects, Schutzenstrasse has a very distinct character: there is a consistent battle between the colour, material and formal language of the building and its context. In my view, this could be further dramatised in the McBride’s MAXXI proposal.

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-Review (excerpt) by Yi Wang