Spanish architects Arranguren & Gallegos have converted a brewery in Madrid into a museum with an underground gallery and triangular windows.
Access to the six-storey Museo ABC is through a courtyard paved with tessellated triangular glass and steel tiles that also cover one side of the building.
The museum houses a collection of drawings and illustrations.
The glazed triangles on the courtyard surface provide skylights to the basement exhibition hall below, where collections of illustrations are presented.
Above ground, the former brewery contains a second exhibition hall, workshops, offices and a reception.
The building was first designed by Spanish architect José López Salaberry, who was also responsible for street-planning in Madrid at the start of the twentieth century.
The street-facing facades retain the original brick exterior and are abutted by a single-storey glass cafe that screens the entrance courtyard.
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Photographs are copyright Museo ABC.
The following information is provided by the museum.
A new museum for Madrid. A reference for Europe.
The Museo ABC de Dibujo e Ilustración located in a modern and surprising building of 3,000 square metres which host the Colección ABC with a holding of 200,000 artworks signed by 1,500 artists. A centre dedicated to drawings and illustrations where there is also room for contemporary authors. A unique proposal both in Spain and in the Continent. Among its objectives: preserving, studying and disseminating the Colección ABC, as well as designing and developing activities related to drawings and illustrations to become and international reference.
The Museo ABC has been conceived as an open and plural centre, both for the mainstream and for the specialized public. Its aims are clear: presenting and preserving the Colección ABC, as well as developing a wide cultural program. The celebration of temporary exhibitions, workshops, conferences, debates; the announcement of prices or internships; the edition of publications… will turn the new museum into a creative, live and very dynamic space.
The centre expects focusing its view on the most current tendencies and on the most interesting creative proposals, starting mechanisms which will enable the production and promotion of contemporary drawings and illustrations, so that a large number of artists have access to the public dissemination of their work.
This project, guaranteed by the Diario ABC and the Vocento group, is driven by Fundación Colección ABC, a non-profit organization which aim is to custody, disseminate and investigate the valuable legacy of the Colección ABC. Since its birth, it is supported by the Town Council and Government of Madrid.
The Museo ABC is a private initiative to support, at present, cultural and artistic expressions. It is a self- managed entity which is sponsored by companies of all fields with a common initiative and interest on the artistic world. Currently, it counts with the collaboration of Fundación Santander, Fundación Mutua Madrileña, Caser, Prosegur and Schindler.
The Museo ABC is a private initiative to support, at present, cultural and artistic expressions. It is a self- managed entity which is sponsored by companies of all fields with a common initiative and interest on the artistic world. Currently, it counts with the collaboration of Fundación Santander, Fundación Mutua Madrileña, Caser, Prosegur and Schindler.
The editorial group with the longest history of the country has narrated current affairs since 1891, making an effort to promote on its pages the art and the culture through drawings and illustrations, first on the pagesof the weekly newspaper Blanco y Negro and then on Diario ABC.
The Colección ABC gathers the works of more than 1,500 artists of all styles, techniques and tendencies, with nearly 200,000 pieces. Following the collection’s development throughout its history will enable substantiating the consolidation of the most important illustrators, the role played by certain artists of the highest relevance, the diverse changes of taste and the different historical and social events narrated through these media.
It is a historical but decidedly contemporary collection. Thus, this exceptional material becomes a decisive contribution to our artistic heritage. It is a unique collection, unequalled in Europe. Additionally, it has an up-to-the-minute feature in so far as it interacts with other areas, such as graphic design, comic strips, animation or digital creation.
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The venue of the new Museo ABC de Dibujo e Ilustración is located in Madrid, at calle Amaniel, a few metres away from the Conde Duque Cultural Centre, on a brick building which, at the beginning of the last Century, hosted one of the first beer factories of the Spanish capital.
Its designer was José López Salaberry, an architect closely related to the development of the new Madrid urbanism at the beginning of the 20th Century. He is responsible for the transfer of La Cibeles to its current location, as well as one of the creators of the Gran Vía street plans and the architect of the building of the Casino of Madrid and of the facade of the building used by ABC and Blanco y Negro for many decades on calle Serrano.
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In order to adapt this singular space to the needs of the new artistic centre, the Museo ABC has relied on the
architect studio Aranguren & Gallegos, which has conceived its rehabilitation with a two-fold objective: remodelling the space for its new use and enriching the urban environment by contributing to the city with a respectful but innovative architectonic proposal.
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The new Museum counts with a surface of over 3,000 m2 to develop its activities, distributed into six floors, two of which are underground. There are two spacious exhibition rooms, multifunctional spaces, a floor used for management duties, a deposit for the artworks, a restoration laboratory, warehouses, cafeteria and store. In short, it is the best scenario possible for the visitor to access and enjoy the centre’s wide program.
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A large and surprising double-high-ceiling room under a new pedestrian square is the main exhibition space. The natural light penetrates through a system of skylights perforated on the floor of this square which, in turn, serve as entry vestibule for the Museum. This is the area which shows modern elements integrating with the historical building. Its floor is covered by blued steel on grey and crystal tones. These materials – with the same triangular exploded view – rise to cover the interior facade of the former factory. The setting is closed by a large glass and metal beam which functions as a lintel and houses the cafeteria.
The ground entry floor, conceived a welcoming space, lodges the store-library and a flexible space prepared
to host a small auditorium or projection room…There is a second room for exhibitions on the first floor. This large and open space recalls a loft, evidencing and respecting its industrial past.
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The second floor is dedicated to the Museum’s management, administration and works. On the third floor, a large multipurpose space, roofed, will be dedicated to cultural and social activities. This space will also lodge didactic, training and creation activities. The building is topped by a cubic space, identical to the one which hosts the cafeteria, and raised over the roof as a large torch.
The deposit and warehouse are located on the basement, designed for the art pieces’ best security, optimal preservation and manipulation.
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