This new state-owned museum is located in one of the buildings of the Nuevos Ministerios complex, the current Department for Housing and the Urban Agenda, in a large cultural space spread over 2400m2, which first opened in 1983 as “La Arquería”. La Casa de la Arquitectura was unveiled on 18th December 2023 and aims to become a national and international point of reference for architecture, urbanism and landscape design in Spain.
Since it first started out as an exhibition hall in La Arquería, it has showcased the very best in modern architecture with the aim of spreading architectural culture in Spain. Following a period of inactivity and renovations, during the first quarter of 2023 it housed the ENAIRE modern art collection in Madrid.
Its exhibitions have always featured the work of leading architectural figures from around the world, such as Lewerentz, Asplund, Scarpa, Morris, Saarinen, Piano, Tadao Ando, Barragán, Rietveld, Jacobsen, Terragni, Melnikov, and Eisenman, as well as the most important Spanish architects of the twentieth century: Coderch, Jujol, Fisac, Oíza, Candela, Alas-Casariego, Corrales-Molezún, MBM, Alejandro de la Sota, Cano Lasso, and Calatrava. It has also put on major themed exhibitions such as New York Architecture, and One Hundred Maps of Havana.
The permanent collection of this new state-owned museum contains architectural and urban documents and objects belonging to the Department of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, including objects, drawings, documents, maps and images on different media.
La Casa de la Arquitectura also has a digital platform, developed in partnership with Fundación Arquia, with a view to broadening the mission of this institution. It is an advanced digital repository that will house the collection on line in order to achieve its goals of disseminating and positioning Spanish architecture in a dynamic way, adapted to the digital age.
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