MuseumFebruary 25, 2025· By Lisbeth Rebollo Gonçalves
Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) inaugurates new building
Next March, the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, an icon of Brazilian culture, with its imposing building on Paulista Avenue, will expand its headquarters with an annex building named after Pietro Maria Bardi, the institution's first artistic director.
The new building will have exhibition galleries, multipurpose spaces, classrooms, a conservation laboratory, warehouses, and docks for loading and unloading works of art. There will be a restaurant, as well as a café, to welcome the visiting public. There are 14 floors, with 7,821 m2.
The museum's historic headquarters will henceforth bear the name of Lina Bo Bardi. In addition to being the architect responsible for the museum's project, she was also a curator, having carried out curatorial and historical exhibitions in Brazilian museology. This is a way of paying tribute to her and reiterating her importance in constructing the museum's project and its identity in the Brazilian art scene.
The new MASP building increases exhibition space by 66%. The architectural project was led by METRO ARQUITECTOS ASOCIADOS, with whom the museum maintained a partnership to make the technical adaptations to the glass panels created by Lina Bo Bardi. These panels were reinstalled in 2016 as one of the proposals of artistic director Adriano Pedrosa in his museography and museological work program when he assumed the museum's direction.
The architects of the new building opted for a monolithic design inspired by vertical museums. The building's cladding, as they explain it, is made of perforated and folded metal sheets to control the incidence of natural light and reduce internal heating. This increases the building's energy efficiency and relieves the air conditioning system. The new building has automated LED lighting, following international standards for conserving works of art.
The museum reports that Marcelo Ribeiro, MASP's financial and operations director, and Miriam Elwing, its architectural project manager, led the project's implementation. The office of Levisk and Architects / Urban Strategies was responsible for consulting, strategy, and permitting.
The following strategy was followed regarding the connection with the historic building: While the Lina Bardi building creates a relationship between the museum’s interior and Paulista Avenue, the new building proposes a play of light and shadow. From the new site, the visitor will be able to observe the city and the Lina Bardi building.
The two buildings also interact in terms of colors and volumes. A 40-meter-long connecting tunnel integrates them.
The year 2025 will be dedicated to "Histories of Ecology," and exhibitions, courses, conferences, workshops, seminars, and publications will invite the public to consider this urgent global issue. The exhibitions to open in the new building are "Pierre Auguste Renoir," "History of MASP," "Arts of Africa," "Isaac Julien—a marvelous 'tangled'," and "Geometries."
The new building will have exhibition galleries, multipurpose spaces, classrooms, a conservation laboratory, warehouses, and docks for loading and unloading works of art. There will be a restaurant, as well as a café, to welcome the visiting public. There are 14 floors, with 7,821 m2.
The museum's historic headquarters will henceforth bear the name of Lina Bo Bardi. In addition to being the architect responsible for the museum's project, she was also a curator, having carried out curatorial and historical exhibitions in Brazilian museology. This is a way of paying tribute to her and reiterating her importance in constructing the museum's project and its identity in the Brazilian art scene.
The new MASP building increases exhibition space by 66%. The architectural project was led by METRO ARQUITECTOS ASOCIADOS, with whom the museum maintained a partnership to make the technical adaptations to the glass panels created by Lina Bo Bardi. These panels were reinstalled in 2016 as one of the proposals of artistic director Adriano Pedrosa in his museography and museological work program when he assumed the museum's direction.
The architects of the new building opted for a monolithic design inspired by vertical museums. The building's cladding, as they explain it, is made of perforated and folded metal sheets to control the incidence of natural light and reduce internal heating. This increases the building's energy efficiency and relieves the air conditioning system. The new building has automated LED lighting, following international standards for conserving works of art.
The museum reports that Marcelo Ribeiro, MASP's financial and operations director, and Miriam Elwing, its architectural project manager, led the project's implementation. The office of Levisk and Architects / Urban Strategies was responsible for consulting, strategy, and permitting.
The following strategy was followed regarding the connection with the historic building: While the Lina Bardi building creates a relationship between the museum’s interior and Paulista Avenue, the new building proposes a play of light and shadow. From the new site, the visitor will be able to observe the city and the Lina Bardi building.
The two buildings also interact in terms of colors and volumes. A 40-meter-long connecting tunnel integrates them.
The year 2025 will be dedicated to "Histories of Ecology," and exhibitions, courses, conferences, workshops, seminars, and publications will invite the public to consider this urgent global issue. The exhibitions to open in the new building are "Pierre Auguste Renoir," "History of MASP," "Arts of Africa," "Isaac Julien—a marvelous 'tangled'," and "Geometries."
