Rome 23 June 2011. Now in its 12th edition at MoMA/ MoMA PS1, the YAP – Young Architects Program has reached Rome for the first time thanks to the collaboration between MAXXI and the New York museum. The program, which in Rome goes under the name YAP MAXXI, sees the museum’s external spaces transformed into a garden of green islands that will host the summer season events, thanks to the WHATAMI project, conceived by the Rome studio stARTT. An artificial landscape, delineated by hills on which to pause, topped by great flowers providing shade by day and light by night, will allow the public to relax and contemplate the sinuous lines of the museum. In New York, YAP has seen the realisation of the Holding Pattern project by the New York studio  Interboro Partners.

The winning proposal in Rome is an archipelago of green spaces including a great main ‘island’ and several smaller ones scattered across the museum’s outdoor space. Large ‘flowers’ provide visitors with shadow by day and light at night, creating an area for summer relaxation and a grandstand during the museum’s numerous outdoor events. At the end of the summer, all the natural materials will be returned to their places of origin. The high-tech flower objects will be relocated throughout the city, in parks and public school playgrounds.