Completed in 2014 by acclaimed Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, the University of Navarra Museum seamlessly integrates with the existing campus while respecting and enhancing its natural surroundings. Designed as a cultural and educational hub, the museum features a minimalist yet striking architectural language, housing an impressive collection of contemporary art, photography, and performing arts spaces. The building’s thoughtful design emphasizes sustainability and harmony with its environment, reinforcing Moneo’s reputation for creating timeless, context-sensitive architecture.
University of Navarra Museum Technical Information
- Architects: Rafael Moneo
- Location: Pamplona, Spain
- Client: Museo Universidad de Navarra
- Typology: Cultural Architecture / Museum
- Project Year: 2014
- Budget: 14,500,000 €
- Structure: Reinforced Concrete
- Photographs: © ArchEyes, © Courtesy of Museo Universidad de Navarra
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
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 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 considered 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 in the library, which houses books and publications on contemporary art and is also used as a meeting place for students to study and consult.
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 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.
