The Municipal Government of the city of Madrid seeks to expand the city's cultural offerings with a new avant-garde space. For this reason, it has signed a collaboration agreement with architect Emilio Ambasz (Argentina, 1943) for the development of the Museo de las Artes, Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanism (MAADU) in the Spanish capital.
Total investment is budgeted at 10 million Euros. Madrid will provide a city-owned building at Paseo del Prado, 30—in the cultural axis that include the Prado, Thyssen, and Reina Sofía—for a 75-year period. On its part, the Ambasz Foundation will be in charge of the design and construction of the new museum, and will manage it during the concession period.
The design for the new building aligns with others by Emilio Ambasz, a pioneer of green architecture. It will be open to the public as a sustainable, avant-garde, thrilling where new technologies play an essential role. It will feature a virtual library, temporary exhibition galleries for art, architecture, and design prototypes with fund ceded by the most prestigious museums, spaces for conferences and symposia, and a fellowship program in collaboration will renowned universities from around the world, such as Princeton, where Ambasz received his architecture degree.
Programs in the new space will prioritize architects and designers who transcend the boundaries and traditional conceptions of their art.