AR Awards for Emerging Architecture	Honourable mention	December 2007
OBR ARCHITETTI ASSOCIATI	Museum of Pitagora	Crotone, Italy
This project is not yet complete, and as such did not qualify for consideration as an award contender. The jury, however, felt it deserved an honourable mention due to the strength and conviction of its form. Situated on an elevated site, overlooking the southern Italian city of Crotone, the building extends out of the hillside with a strong concrete cantilevered projection. Built to house a new museum to the famous Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who founded his school here in circa 530 BC, the building’s distinctive figure is described by its architects as a contemporary belvedere, as the extensive roof garden that sits above the projection is intended to be a public place that will blur boundaries between exhibition spaces, piazza and garden. Circulation works with the fall of the land and plays a major part in organising the exhibition that takes the form of a spiralling route that will lead visitors through foyer exhibition spaces. With tapering ramps, the interiors extend the use of exposed concrete to create a series of atmospheric halls. The building itself is accessible from above and below, either by climbing a path from the old town, or descending from the mount. By contrast to the expanse of the roof garden, the cantilever shelters a terrace, providing a morae intimate place of shade at the lowest point of the site. The museum is scheduled to open this month. R. G. Architects OBR Open Building Research, Genoa