Architects Norman Foster and Carlos Rubio winners of the projects competition to remodel the Hall of Realms.
The winning design fully responds to the spatial requirements specified by the Museum for this project, without the need to excavate new basement levels. It emphasises the historical spaces that form the core of the building, particularly the Hall of Realms. Similarly, it strengthens and consolidates the identity of the Museo del Prado campus, proposing a pedestrian section of the Retiro Park – Paseo del Prado axis along calle Felipe IV which will revitalise its connection with the city.
In its decision statement the jury singled out the principal merits of this project as the high quality of the architectural proposal, which respects and emphasises the pre-existing structure, adapting it to present-day requirements; the intelligent way in which this project meets museological requirements; the skilled integration of the building into its surroundings and into the overall context of the Museo del Prado campus; and the project’s efficient cost study.
The aim of the competition of which the winner has now been announced and which was originally published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 1 March 2016, was to select the architectural team to devise the project to restore and refit the Hall of Realms, part of the lost Buen Retiro palace and the former home of the Museo del Ejército [Army Museum]. This building was formerly passed to the Museo del Prado in October 2015.
