Type: Museum
Location: Quito, Ecuador
Area: 2,500sqm
Date: Designed in 2021; local government permits processing
Status: Unbuilt
Client: Uribe Schwarzkopf
Commissioned by prolific real estate developer Uribe Schwarzkopf, MAQ is a 2,500sqm museum space that maintains the existing facade of a colonial era home that had fallen into ruin and become an empty shell, using the juxtaposition of contemporary architecture and a historic facade to create an ethereal space for contemporary art. This new addition is structured as a tripod over three large columns that don't touch the existing house and make them seem like two lego matching pieces. This new piece is white and iridescent, using a traditional colonial technique of ceramic covering on the facade to contrast the existing house's adobe material. A liminal space is created in the terrace that joins the old and the new.