Enzo Ferrari Museum by Future Systems
![Ferrari Museum](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DvYZ6NiSWSjQjXk8hWqpB4-415-80.jpg)
The Enzo Ferrari Museum is a bold building that marks the end of two eras. On the one hand it effectively fossilises a structure that is as dear to any auto aficionado as the Vatican is to a devout Catholic; the original office and workshop of one Enzo Ferrari. This architectural reliquary is achieved with the construction of another milestone, the final building by Future Systems.
Jan Kaplicky's pioneering practice never really achieved the technological revolution it promised. When Kaplicky died in 2009, the monographs full of ambitious space age concepts remained on the page, with only a few signature buildings - Birmingham's Selfridges, the Lords Media Centre - to show for it. It was left to Kaplicky's former partner, Amanda Levete, to deftly take the sleekly futuristic and commercially viable elements of Kaplicky's obsessions and absorb them into her own highly accomplished designs and practice.
This final Kaplicky work, won in competition way back in 2004, is the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena, €18 million of highly polished auto nostalgia. Described as a 'bonnet', finished in yellow aluminium in homage to Modena's city colours, the same yellow chosen by Ferrari as the background colour to the Prancing Horse badge, the curved roof has vents inspired by the air intakes of his famous sports cars.
Born in 1898, Ferrari made his name as a racing team manager in the inter-war years - principally for Alfa Romeo - before eventually emerging as a full-fledged manufacturer in his own right in 1947. The new museum structure reaches around the original house like an 'open hand', its glass façade reflecting the traditional architecture of the restored offices, now serving as a gallery space.
In the display space beneath the soaring bonnet roof is a collection of significant cars - not just limited to Ferraris - tracing Enzo Ferrari's career from the early twentieth century onwards. After Kaplicky's death, the construction and detailing was skillfully managed by Andrea Morgante, formerly at Future Systems but now at Shiro Studio.
Opened in March 2012, the new museum will become an instant place of pilgrimage for Ferrari's faithful global congregation. But rather than take a one-dimensional view of the company's own output, the exhibits are a welcome overview of the great interwar motor-racing era and its evolution into the road and race cars of the post-war period - the era that Ferrari himself has come to define.
The museum's glass façade reflects the original buildings
Inside the new building, from left to right: Stanguellini Junior racing car, dating from the late 1960s; Maserati A6G/54 2000 Spider, 1955, with an engine derived from Maserati's racing cars and bodywork by Zagato (this particular car was commissioned by Argentina's Juan Peron); and a Stanguellini 1100 Barchetta Ala d'Oro
Alfa Romeo 158 Alfetta, an iconic post-war racing car
Alfa Romeo Bimotore. Often dubbed 'the first Ferrari', this twin-engined racer was developed by Enzo Ferrari whilst at Alfa Romeo in 1935 and became the first car to wear the Prancing Horse logo
De Tomaso Vallelunga, 1965. Ultra rare mid-engined road car from Ferrari's rival De Tomaso
Maserati A6GCS Berlinetta Pininfarina. Another Ferrari rival, bodied by Pininfarina and developed for racing in the Mille Miglia in 1954
Ferrari 166 MM Coupé, 1948. A coupé version of Ferrari's second model, the 166
Maserati A6 1500 Pininfarina. Introduced in 1946, this was the first road-going Maserati
The 612 Scaglietti was introduced in 2004 and has now been replaced by the Ferrari FF
The interior of the renovated original office
A series of undulating display cabinets house an exhibition of archive material
ADDRESS
Via Paolo Ferrari 85
41123 Modena
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
Phaidon’s new Graphic Classics is a lavish greatest hits of graphic design
Graphic Classics is a compendium of seven centuries of visual culture, from the everyday and ephemeral to visionary works that reshaped our world
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s Chelsea
The new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
By Melina Keays Published
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
‘Carlo Scarpa: The Complete Buildings’ is an essential tour of the Italian master’s works
‘Carlo Scarpa: The Complete Buildings’ is the perfect book for architecture enthusiasts
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
New Aesop Milan store is a haven of beauty and tranquillity
The latest Aesop Milan store to open is a hub of wellness, beauty and tranquillity in the Italian metropolis
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A new water mirror casts a misty veil over ancient Roman baths
Architect Hannes Peer reveals a water mirror in Rome – an immersive architectural installation at the heart of the ancient Baths of Caracalla
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Giovanni Michelucci’s dramatic concrete church in the Italian Dolomites
Giovanni Michelucci’s concrete Church of Santa Maria Immacolata in the Italian Dolomites is a reverently uplifting memorial to the victims of a local disaster
By Jonathan Glancey Published
-
Milan’s 10 Corso Como revamp nods to the concept store’s industrial character
Milanese concept store 10 Corso Como unveils its new look by 2050+, a stripped-back design that nods to its 20th-century character
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Carlo Ratti announced curator of Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
Carlo Ratti has been revealed as the Director of the Architecture Department at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, with the specific task of curating the 19th International Architecture Exhibition
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Floating infinity pool by Herzog & De Meuron at Lake Como is largest of its kind
Herzog & de Meuron creates the largest floating infinity pool in the world for Mandarin Oriental in Lake Como
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Best of brutalist Italian architecture chronicled in new book
Brutalist Italian architecture enthusiasts and concrete completists will be spoilt for choice by Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego’s pictorial tour
By Jonathan Bell Published