One of the largest ancient Roman water reservoirs is located in Naples – and is now redesigned by a Hong Kong-based architecture studio as an impressive contemporary museum.
Piscina Mirabilis, one of the largest ancient cisterns, built by Emperor Augustus in the 1st century AD, stretches under Naples on 1450 square meters. The historical spaces already grandiose by themselves were reinterpreted by the architects of Hong Kong-based Bagua+Bhava as a contemporary museum in the framework of a competition.
They divided the water reservoir into two large sections, a black and a white zone. One represents the past while the other symbolizes the future, as the building itself has been redesigned along the principle of continuity. They created five main paths, with some focusing on paintings, and others on sculpture art. And of course, in addition to the exhibition spaces, they didn’t forget about adding a bar and a bookstore to the museum either.
Source: designboom