Fundacion Proa New Extension
The amazing success of Fundacion Proa, that became the most important private institution for contemporary art in South America, also led the Director to think of the necessity to have more space not only for exhibition but also for cultural events (an auditorium, a library), didactic facilities and amenities like “gourmet” cafeteria. The brief also contained the will to make access to common people of the “barrio” easier and easier, and the relationship with the external world more effective allowing a night use to auditorium, bookshop, cafeteria even if the exhibition rooms are closed. The expansion has been made possible through the acquisition of two adjoining houses. The low architectural quality of the new acquisitions and the need to get to a communicative and extroverted institution led us to the idea of having two glass façades aside the historical central façade. The entire façade is consequently transformed into a powerful support for medias that allows both video-art and cinema sessions in retro-projection , information about the Foundation’s activity and interactive intervention by the public, who may even not physically enter the building and nevertheless participate in the Fundacion’s activities.
