History

MAcA Museum, originally named Edificio 37, is located in Turin, Corso Umbria 90.

The building was originally edified by Michelin at the end of the 1940s (in 1906 Turin hosted the first plant of the Clermont-Ferrand firm outside its headquarters).

As a result of Michelin development – in the area between via Livorno and corso Umbria – the necessity to realize a new entrance on the west side arises.

In 1947 Edificio 37 is completed. A building developed on two floors, working as an entrance from corso Umbria, a reception point and a bicycle storage.

The following year a new floor is built to host the company’s canteen and which would become the headquarter of the firm fire prevention division, with dedicated staff.

After its dismissing, the building has gone through a restoration process led by the architect Agostino Maniaghi and since 2004 it has become the headquarter of MAcA Museum, the first museum in Europe entirely dedicated to environmental issues, conceived by the architect Carlo Degiacomi, who has been its Director until 2013.

The Museum is focused on three main themes: energy, waste and water. In ten years it brought together expositions, exhibitions and national and international cooperation actions.

MAcA Museum fits perfectly into the City Museum Development Plan. Turin, in fact, has a strong scientific-technological tradition, which is rooted in the Universities and Academic Institutions (Accademia delle Scienze in particular) of the area. This background brought to the development of a museum and collection network, dissemination and knowledge transmission.

MAcA has become part of the Turin Museum Development Network, a project which the City of Turin has been working on in the last decade.

In the same years of MAcA’s creation, other Museums are brought to life, namely the Museo Diffuso della Resistenza, della Deportazione, della Guerra, dei Diritti e della Libertà and the Ecomuseo Urbano of Turin. They are all non-conventional museums, strictly linked to territorial identities with a widened vision and dynamic on cultural heritage.

Museums of “doing” rather than “having”, where knowledge is constantly elaborated.

MAcA fits perfectly in a concept of museum-lab. The visitor has an active role in building knowledge, led by pilots – specialized scientific entertainers.

A contemporary museum where interactivity, educational vocation and the long life learning principle cohabit: one never ends to learn and discover, no matter the age.

Photo credit: Filippo Gallino for the City of Turin, September 2001