The building by Richard Meier
Richard Meier's wide experience in the design and construction of new museums is amply demonstrated by his many other achievements in the field of museum architecture.
Meier's architecture is based on a manifest, clear rationalism, with allusions to the masters of the Modern Movement and to Le Corbusier in particular, combining straight lines and curves in a continuous dialogue between the interior spaces and the light outside, which penetrates the building by way of galleries and large skylights.
The Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, a paradigm of Meier's architectural language, is conceived as a longitudinal cuboid volume with a base measuring 120 x 35 m; inserted into this is a second volume with a circular plan which extends vertically through four floors, around which the different exhibition zones are articulated.
Meier's commitment to integrating natural light into his projects as a defining element that generates spaces hace que the light natural-cenital llegue a each floor of the building. In order to possibilitar this penetration of the light, Meier has separated some of the floor slabs from the line of the façade. This same concept also determines the atrium, a gallery-like space parallel to the main façade, which filters and distributes daylight to the various exhibition zones. This vertical gallery performs a dual function, communicating the interior and the exterior spaces by way of the ramps that give access to each floor and serving as a corridor leading to the exhibition spaces, thus establishing a symbolic communication between the interior world of the museum and the exterior space of the new Plaça dels Àngels.
VIEW OF THE STORE ROOMS
(BASEMENT)
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VIEW OF TOP FLOORS
(SKY LIGHTING)
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VIEW OF TOP FLOORS
(ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING)
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