The Museum of Contemporary Art of Florence from the rehabilitation of Angiolo Mazzoni’s Thermal Plant

The building of the Thermal Plant represents for Florence the tangible sign that it is still possible to develop a modern and innovative architecture to be a challenge and a symbol for new generations. In this respect we recall that from the beginning the work was admired and was hailed as “the most perfect, more complex and complete, the most beautiful in Italy and perhaps in Europe” due to its avant-garde formalism which was largely praised by Marinetti. In the expressive nature of the few elements to which the architectural language is entrusted, both of the Plant itself and of the Equipment Cabin – corner cylindrical tower, interlocking cubic blocks, winding stair in iron, continuous windows – the “phase of Mazzonian activity that is closer to the language of European avant-garde movements” was identified, and in particular the memory a “delayed Futurism”. Our proposal is limited to a complete restoration of all exterior parts and a re-conversion of the interiors using the spaces and in particular the great hall for contemporary art exhibits through the mounting of experiences in which the artist, with his intervention, involves the space in a single expressive synthesis.