"Commissioned by MAE, a manufacturer of equipment for carbon fiber production, the project transforms one of the world's largest archives on carbon fiber into a dynamic museum, uniting research with archival preservation and turning the archive into a space for interactive exploration. The project is described by its designers as a "living museum," a place to read, inquire, and connect ideas."
"Over the past decades, carbon fiber has found applications in jet engines, supercars, bicycles, aircraft, and medical devices, among many other products. In architecture, the material has been considered one of the most promising composites for the future of building due to its exceptional strength and lightweight properties, enabling thinner structural members, larger openings, and more complex geometries. To foster a deeper understanding of the material, the MAE Museum invites visitors to uncover how an everyday polymer, acrylic fiber, similar to that used in clothing, has gained importance across such a wide range of applications."
"The visit begins in MAE's archive, home to valuable intellectual property related to the production of acrylic fiber. This fiber is the precursor to carbon fiber: when carefully heated and oxidized, its carbon atoms align into an ultra-strong lattice, giving the material its remarkable strength-to-weight ratio. The archive is conceived as a landscape of boxes forming an interactive three-dimensional matrix, enhanced by digital overlays that allow visitors and researchers to explore the company's repository of industrial innovation and intellectual property."
A museum devoted to carbon fiber opened in Fiorenzuola d'Arda on December 17, 2025, based on a project begun in 2021 and designed by CRA–Carlo Ratti Associati with Italo Rota. Commissioned by MAE, the project converts one of the world’s largest carbon-fiber archives into a dynamic, research-oriented public space. Exhibits trace how acrylic fiber, when heated and oxidized, transforms into carbon fiber through aligned carbon lattices that produce exceptional strength-to-weight performance. The museum pairs an archive conceived as an interactive three-dimensional matrix with digital overlays and immersive sequences that reveal production steps, material properties, and diverse applications across transport, medicine, and architecture.
Read at ArchDaily
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