This museum project for Fundación Telefónica, the cultural institution of Spain’s largest telephone company, occupies four floors in the historic Telefónica Building at the top of Madrid’s most central street, the Gran Via. The historic nature of the building and the difficult relationships between the reclaimed spaces of the old building generated the central focus of project: a central, cohesive circulation path that connects all galleries and cultural spaces on the upper floors to one another and to the street.

The existing floor plates were opened and a grand spiralling staircase inserted. The staircase weaves through an organic, sculptural form which serves simultaneously as a structural brace for the building’s façade and structural support for the stair.

The galleries take their form from the shape of the Telefónica Building. In these spaces the floors were stripped of everything non-essential to the original structure. Columns were left exposed and the ceiling covered with a suspended fine copper mesh. The spaces left bare both reveal the beauty of the structure and allow for the maximum freedom for exhibit-specific installations.

For this project Moneo Brock Studio is collaborating with Quanto Arquitectura.

Under Construction

 

 

 

 

telefonica museum