New contemporary art wing for the MALI museum, Lima, Peru

Competition 2016. Honorable mention

This project aims at integrating the public space over the new contemporary art wing into the parks and public space of the city. At the same time, a new spacious, flexible gallery is designed, surrounding it with classrooms in different spaces. All of the spaces are lit through natural light that runs directly into the classrooms area and indirectly into the gallery area.

Firstly, a new access plaza is designed, connecting the Exhibition Park with the Juana de Dammert Park through the new metro station. This plaza, which lies slightly sunk in the ground, thus sheltered from the traffic noise above, becomes a defined place prior to entering the new wing and can serve as a space for outdoor exhibitions.

Secondly, the Exhibition Park is rearranged into a more organic layout, characterized by new wider pedestrian paths. A new tree-lined boulevard is organized, running from Wilson Avenue to the access to the existing building and the new wing.

Lastly, the spaces in the new wing are stacked from bottom to top in a sequence of gallery, library, multipurpose room and public plaza, visually relating to each other.

Natural light is introduced in the museum in different ways: through the sunk public plaza, through different patios that let light into the classrooms, and through skylights that direct natural light into the staircases, the library, the entrance hall and the gallery. This creates a warm, bright and intense atmosphere on the inside.

The exhibition gallery is organized in a large variable-height longitudinal space laterally lit by skylights. This space can be fragmented using movable partitions that can be stored in the adjacent rooms, which are connected to the outside by service lifts.

Authors: Linazasoro&Sánchez Arquitectura, Juan Manuel Gutiérrez Gonzáles, Luis Martin Piccini Acuña
Collaborators: Alba Troitiño Bernal, Hugo Sebastián de Erice