Foster + Partners and Rubio Arquitectura to tackle Madrid's Museo del Prado expansion
– Norman Foster
Madrid’s historic Hall of Realms will be refurbished and transformed into an important art exhibition space by architects Foster + Partners and Rubio Arquitectura, after the pair were named winners of an international competition for the project.
The space will form an expansion to the city’s Museo del Prado campus; Spain’s main national art museum. The Hall of Realms building was part of the 17th century Royal Buen Retiro Palace and most recently served as an Army Museum for the city.
The design team will create a new community focus for the city by bringing together the various buildings that comprise the Prado with public spaces and underground links.
Their proposal goes back four centuries to rediscover the original three storey southern façade, which will become the backdrop for “a spectacular new space within the building.”
The existing outer walls will be delicately opened up to bring light and views in from the new civic plaza. A new public route will run through the building, with terrace cafes on the north side.
A new roof will be added harvest energy from integrated solar cells, give natural light to the galleries below and creating a cantilever to protect the southern façade.
“I would like to say how honoured we are to contribute to this next phase of the expansion of the Prado – one of the truly great museums of the world,” said Norman Foster, chair of Foster + Partners. “The Hall of Realms, built by Crescenzi and Carbonel in the 1630s, is one of the very few remains of the former palace and predates the museum which was conceived in 1819.
“Two centuries later the transformation and expansion of this historic hall will add significant new galleries and related public spaces to the Prado. It will also create, as a setting, a new urban focus for the city of Madrid.”
Our vision for the new Prado Campus brings the essence of the Palacio del Buen Retiro back to life, by creating a new public focus for the city and stitching the various buildings of the Museo del Prado together. The primary protagonist is the noble Hall of Realms, a monument which has gathered many layers of history throughout the centuries. These layers will be peeled back to reveal the original 17th century façade, which will become the primary exhibit of the new museum.
The recovery of the south façade of the Palace requires the removal of the floor slabs to reveal the full extent of the facades, creating a spectacular new indoor public space: the new Prado Campus. By means of a delicate procedure the original façade openings will be reinstated so that sunlight reaches the interior spaces of the Hall of Realms again, re-establishing its former bond with the surrounding landscape.
The area lost by the removal of the intermediate floors will be reinstated on the third floor, above the newly revealed façade. This new floor will house a broad and versatile exhibition hall with a double-height ceiling. The new roof will be fully tuneable for controlled natural and artificial light, with full environmental controls –perfectly adapted to the varied nature of the exhibits. The new roof will also set new standards for sustainability, harvesting energy from integrated solar cells, while creating shade on the southern façade.
By situating the gallery spaces above, the ground floor is released and becomes the heart of the new building: this public level will be filled with exhibition and recreational areas, with the surrounding urban milieu flowing through the atrium, reconnecting both north – where the main entrance is located – and south, where a gathering space receives the visitors from the Villanueva building and restores the relationship between the Hall of Realms and the Casón del Buen Retiro.
A holistic vision for the future, the proposal for the Prado Campus will become a vital urban focus: a project that strengthens the urban linkages by stitching together the city, bringing clarity and coherence to the visitor experience. The project expands the role of the museum as a contemporary cultural institution, reaffirming its role as the custodian of the Royal Collections that were formerly housed in the Palacio del Buen Retiro.
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