Museum University of Navarra / Rafael Moneo

© Courtesy of Museo Universidad de Navarra

Completed in 2014 by renowned Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, the University of Navarra Museum has been designed to blend with the existing campus without spoiling the natural setting.

University of Navarra Museum Technical Information

The original program – the small museum to house the Maria Josefa Huarte collection – has turned into a complex program that should also include social spaces that will favor the relational life between professors, students and visitors.

– Rafael Moneo

Museum University of Navarra Photographs
Museum University of Navarra / Rafael Moneo

© ArchEyes

Museum University of Navarra / Rafael Moneo

© ArchEyes

Museum University of Navarra / Rafael Moneo

© ArchEyes

Museum University of Navarra / Rafael Moneo

© Courtesy of Museo Universidad de Navarra

Museum University of Navarra / Rafael Moneo

© Courtesy of Museo Universidad de Navarra

Museum University of Navarra / Rafael Moneo

© Courtesy of Museo Universidad de Navarra

Text by the Architects 

María Josefa Huarte’s art collection, for whose possible home Moneo had made several studies, lies at the origin of this project, which has developed into a complex cultural center by incorporating the university’s photography collection revolving around Ortiz-Echagüe’s archives, a theater-auditorium, classrooms, workshops, and a faculty club.

Situated back to back with the rector’s office and close to the library, the building with its fragmented architecture delimits the campus and seen from the Vía de Cintura, it becomes a work of architecture connecting the campus to the city.

The museum building is divided into three floors covering a total of 12,000 square meters. It has 12 exhibition rooms, with an exhibition space of around 3000 m², an Auditorium with 750 seats, two workshops, a restaurant, a library, a classroom, two didactic rooms, two projection rooms, offices, and warehouses, as well as the hall, the foyer, the lobbies, and other amenities.  The roof of the building is designed to be accessible.

The university context where the building is integrated has also been taken into account in the building’s design. Thus, the didactic rooms of the basement are located next to the Auditorium stage and are used for rehearsals of the University theatre groups, chorus, and orchestra. On the other hand, the classrooms and workshops foster plastic and visual arts among students. Films are shown at the University in the projection room, and the Library, which houses books and publications of contemporary art, and are also used as a meeting place for students to study and make consultations.

Museum University of Navarre Image Gallery

About Rafael Moneo

José Rafael Moneo Vallés is a Spanish architect born in 1937. In 1963 he was awarded a fellowship at the Spanish Academy in Rome, where he remained until 1965. Upon returning to Spain, he opened his office in Madrid and began teaching at the Escuela Técnica Superior of Madrid.  In 1974, he received his first commission for a work in Madrid, the Bankinter Office Building, which was accomplished in collaboration with Ramón Bescós. Shortly thereafter, he was commissioned to design the City Hall for Logroño. These two works would allow him to express his architectural vision clearly. He won the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1996 and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2003.

Works from Rafael Moneo

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