Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA)
Museum Building Guide series
Richard Meier

Introduction by Isabel Bachs
Photo-essay by Aleix Bagué

19,50

Located in the rundown district of the Raval, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona creates a dialogue between the quarter’s historic urban fabric and contemporary art. As befits an institution devoted to modern and contemporary art, the striking contemporaneity of the museum’s architecture fuses with the accumulated history of the surroundings.

Contemporary Architecture, Monograph
Description
The labyrinthine nature of the pre-existing streets in the district is reflected in the building’s organization, most notably in the main entrance. A pedestrian passageway runs parallel from the museum’s back garden to a newly created square in front of the museum, known as the Plaça dels Àngels, and links to a pedestrian network running throughout the old city. And the gentle curve of this thoroughfare underscores the centrifugal movement of the cylindrical lobby and describes a fifth facade, connecting the geometries of the museum to an urban context characterized by skewed intersections and the domes of ancient churches.
Author

Richard Meier (1934) is an American architect noted for his refinements of and variations on classic Modernist principles: pure geometry, open space, and an emphasis on light.

80 pages, 62 illustrations
Paperback with jacket, 14x21 cm
English, Catalan, Spanish
Polígrafa, 1st edition 2009
ISBN 9788434312555