Restructuring and extension of the new Fontvieille site, Principality of Monaco, grouping cultural spaces, commercial spaces, public and landscaped spaces.
“A landscape sensitive to an extraordinary geography,
To emphasize how much the existing is incredible. A hill that connects the sea to the city. A vertical park and a transparent sea.
See the garden of delights while thinking of the poetry of the Song of Songs”
Project Name: Project for the site of Fontvieille
SITE: Fontvieille, Principality of Monaco
Avenue Du Prince Hereditaire Albert Centre Commercial
ADDRESS: Fontvieille, 98000 Monaco, Francia
APPOINTMENT
COMPLETION: Principality of Monaco Cabinet of the Prince
CLIENT: Ministère des Finances
Administration des Domaines
FUKSAS ARCHITECTS
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas
INTERIOR DESIGN: FUKSAS Design
AREA: ,000 sq.m
LANDSCAPE
CONSULTANTS: Atelier Jean MUS
LOCAL ARCHITECT: Alexis Blanchi Architecture
COMMERCIAL ARCHITECT L35
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPER SOCRI: Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas won the competition for the project of extension and restructuring of the new site of Fontvieille, intended to reinvigorate the district and the port of Fontvieille in Monaco. The project provides answers to major cultural, commercial, urban, architectural and ecological issues. The project directs the building to the outside, towards the horizon, creating new links with the environment and the natural landscape all around, from the island of Ranieri III to the sea, crossing the Canton Square, the Animal Garden, the cablecar station and avenue Albert II. The natural elements guided the inspiration: here, the sea, there, the slopes green Mediterranean hills.
The curved lines evoke the movement of the waves and the topography of the seabed. They also express the geometry of the building, conceived as a extension of the Rock from the mountain to the sea, with levels that are superimposed on terraces, offering outdoor spaces adorned with local plant elements. The border between inside and outside tends to disappear and the large hanging garden, at different levels, gives a new architectural identity instead. On each floor, a large opening connects the space commercial terraces that allow you to survey the entire building, from the highest point to the sea.
Indeed, the pedestrian flows completely cross the project and become real scenic walks with privileged points of view on the horizon: the Rock, the Exotic Garden and the cliff of the Head of the Dog. The building is spread over five levels, which are distinguished by color, each linked to a landscape element. The ground floor is red, the shadow of the tiles of the historic center of Monaco; the first floor is blue, like the sea; the second floor is lavender, like the flower that grows in the south of France; the third floor is ocher, like the shades of the surrounding facades. Finally, in the hanging garden, the gray evokes the cliffs of the Côte d’Azur. Each of these colors is used for floors, furniture and ceilings.
The colored drops that define the floors with their organic forms are sandstone or marble. These drops of color are reproduced on the ceiling, lit by colored LEDs. Furniture, also designed according to the organic lines, are fiberglass.
The new Fontvieille site offers a contemporary, fluid and organic architecture. Activities commercial spaces are deployed along a covered space, communicating directly to the outside.
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas
Studio Fuksas, led by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, is one of the most outstanding international architectural firm in the world.
Over the past 50 years the company has developed an innovative approach through a strikingly wide variety of projects, ranging from urban interventions to airports, from museums to cultural centers and spaces for music, from convention centers to offices, from interiors to design collections.
With headquarters in Rome, Paris, Dubai, New York and Shenzhen, the practice has completed more than 600 projects and has worked in Europe, Africa, America, Asia and Australia, receiving numerous international awards.
Massimiliano Fuksas of Lithuanian descent, was born in Rome in 1944. He graduated in Architecture from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 1969. Since the Eighties he has been one of the main protagonists of the contemporary architectural scene.
From 1994 to 1997 he was a member of the Planning Commissions in Berlin and Salzburg.In 1998 he was awarded for his professional career with “Vitruvio International a la Trayectoria” in Buenos ires. From 1998 to 2000 he directed the “VII Mostra Internazionale di rchitettura di Venezia”, Less Aesthetics, More Ethics. In 1999 he received the Grand Prix National d’ rchitecture Française, the following year he was named National Academic of San Luca and was decorated Commandeur de l’Ordre des rts et des Lettres de la République Française. In 2002 the Honorary Fellowship of the AIA – American Institute of Architects, Washington D.C. Three years later member of the Académied’Architecture in Paris.In 2006 the Honorary Fellowship of the RIBA – Royal Institute of British Architects, London UK and was named Cavaliere di Gran Croce della Repubblica Italiana. In 2010 he was decorated with Légiond’Honneur by the French President. In 2012 the Medal of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in Italy, and the Global Lithuanian Award, Art and Culture category in Vilnius, Lithuania. The following year the Idea-Tops Awards, Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport-T3, awarded Best Transportation Space in Shenzhen, China. In 2014 Architizer A + Award and Architizer A + Popular Choice Award, Transportation-Airports category in New York. From 2000 to 2015 he was author of the architecture column – founded by Bruno Zevi – in the Italian news magazine “L’Espresso” and from 2014 to 2015 he was, with his wife, the author of the Design column in the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica”.
He has been Visiting Professor at a number of Universities such as Columbia University in New York, the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris, the Akademie der BildendenKünste in Wien, the Staatliche Akademie der BildendenKünste in Stuttgart.
Long since he is dedicating special attention to the study of urban problems in large metropolitan areas.
