MACBA: remediation and expansion

This is a project developed at two different times. First it was in 2011, after having written the essay on Museum expansions for Muntadas´ catalogue for the Reina Sofia (which never saw the light) and three years after my thesis on the Prado Museum extension: PRA2.

I was so entrenched with the subject of museum expansions that when I saw this small competition for the ground floor of MACBA´s Study Center, I immediately decided to take it on! What was my surprise, when after a few days working on it I realized the submission date had already passed.

This did not deter me, and since my ideas were not really about the competition brief, focused on the Study Center alone (“hors sujet again”) but with the Meyer building and even the FAD building (which is now part of the museum but was not at the time 😊) I decided to continue working on them.

I had met Bartomeu Marí (MACBA´s director at the time) in Cadaqués the previous summer, while visiting Muntadas in his September Catalan ashram retreat (where he invites many people from all over) and so I decided I would share my ideas with him anyway.

So, this is when I thought about connecting all the buildings (as the 2023 competition wants), opening entrances in the façade of the office building connecting FAD and Study center to act as a lobby for both and to remove the obstructive ramp from Richard Meyer´s building and add some stairs to the podium, hence opening the atrium to the square as a public space for the city.

Since I was not going to submit the real competition, I made a section from the whole thing and explained my ideas to Bartomeu, who told me were in line with their thinking. And that was that.

When I came back to Barcelona, after this semi deportation from New York, I was totally unaware there was an international competition launched in 2021 to expand the MACBA museum and to connect all the buildings better.

I just found out about recently (few months ago in 2023) surfing the internet (something I don´t do very often I have to admit) while building my web site. I wanted to add to it my humble ideas from 2011, because despite their precarious visualization, they are still quite good, I think. So googling MACBA I ended up discovering the winning entry (already 2 years old). I arrived late to that competition as well 😊.

When I saw the winner, I found the project was bit clumsy (while elegant) in terms of configuration, so I started researching about it, until I realized the problem was with the brief of the competition, I also found online.

The media was very enthusiastic about the project, saying it would be completed by 2023!

The expansion is not done, although you can find it on MACBA´s website as going to happen. I think it would be a missed opportunity to do this project as it is thought of right now. Despite the quality of the winning entry (and its architects), I think it would not achieve what the museum REALLY wants. Maybe that is the reason for it not being done (although I think it is more a question of funding).

When I read what the museum was expecting with such a project, I realized my 2011 ideas were so on point! And so, I decided to develop them, including the possibility of an expansion, and how it would be best done to achieve what the museum says it wants.

There are a lot of analyses in these pages, because I believe with the right analysis you get to the right conclusions (and vice versa).

I just think the people who thought of the competition brief were wrong in some important aspects (there are many good points about it, but it misses some basic issues if what they want is to connect everything together). Hence, they did not manage to outline the correct path for its solutions.  

Since the project is not built, I thought it would be a good idea I share the ideas I have about it.

Some could be implemented without the need of an expansion! And then for the expansion I think there is only one correct path. But the City Hall has to give in.