Casa Enzo Ferrari museum opens in Modena

A pioneering piece of design and a worthy monument to the great Enzo Ferrari. The building’s roof is modeled after the hood of a car. After more than five years of construction, the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari opened over the weekend in the Italian city of Modena. It’s an honor to be here today. I think it’s great for Italy, he represents the best of Italy, he will represent the best of Italy and he always did.

I was involved in this this project since the beginning and I remember the house completely lost, and nothing here. From now, but because you have a place where to go and hear about the story of my father, the passion of my father. The house where Enzo Ferrari was born is now part of a museum. 6,000 square meters in size.

Enzo’s son Pierro Ferrari is the brains behind the project. He’s included several personal items belonging to his father. Originally, a locksmith’s apprentice, Ferrari Sr. became a race car driver and founded one of the world’s most legendary sports car companies. Well, but my father has been written hundreds of books.

Every person who met him I wrote in the past, I know the real Ferrari, I know the real story about him. But was a very complex personality, and very demanding, especially to myself and was very hard job to stay with them. In addition to the personal possessions of Enzo Ferrari, one wing of the museum will display Ferrari automobiles as well as temporary exhibitions.

The building was designed by leading architecture firm Future Systems. Finally we choose this very modern structure because he was always looking to the future, as you know, eh? He was looking to new ideas. And he was always trusting young people, young engineers, young architects.

Andrea Morgante designed and built the museum together with the now deceased Jan Kaplický. They drew all their ideas from Enzo Ferrari’s cars. Those were our reference of inspiration. So when we started the competition we were scanning pictures of details of engines and bonnets. Look how beautiful the shape of this part.

I mean this is art, this is culture, and not many people see that. People just see a fast red car, but we knew the value, the artistic value. So We say, let’s take this and let’s make is a building, let’s make it really big as a building. The dominant color in the new wing is yellow, the color of the Ferrari emblem.

The building is meant to be sleek and innovative, just like Enzo Ferrari’s creations. Everything here is untested. This is a huge prototype and is an amazing challenge, because no one did this roof before. This is a double curved aluminium roof. Is a three dimensional piece of sculpture of 3,000 square meters.

It’s quite a challenge. Same thing the facade, it’s quite a technical challenge, so it has the same spirit that you find in building these cars. Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari resembles the big car museums of German manufacturers such as Porsche, BMW and Mercedes. Their buildings cost much more than the one in Modena, much of the 18 million euros needed for the Ferrari museum came from the local authorities.

When you go to maybe one which is only for a brand, it has the impression of like a showroom, that maybe you’re being sold the idea or you’re being sold the brand of that particular car. I think here it does feel freer, you’re not having the corporate message shoved down your throat maybe quite so much.

They don’t have the place where Enzo Ferrari was born. Maybe they have the place where Michael Schumacher was born but he don’t have Ferrari so that’s a good start for us. The place where Enzo Ferrari grew up been in relative poverty at the start of the 20th century provides the perfect setting to tell his success story.

Enzo told us a sort of life lesson, never to give up, you know and if it looks difficult, keep dreaming.

It’s hoped the new museum will draw up to to, two hundred thousand visitors a year. Here, they can retrace the Ferrari legend, even if most can’t afford the trademark fast red sports car.

Text transcribed by Marcelo Pinto  June 16th 2012 from this youtube video