A contemporary art museum is not just a place that houses the most current works of art but also offers people a certain way of experiencing and engaging with art. Sometimes, It can also be the art itself within the larger scale of the city as its museum. The Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Museum (BACAM) represents the fragmented portions of the city of Buenos Aires that have come to facilitate the collection of contemporary art being produced in this area of Argentina, or directly influencing it.
This building seeks to connect the visitors, as well as the artists, in the overall experience and progression through the museum. As people approach the site, they are first greeted with a public landscaped area that will feature changing installations of land art. Once in the Entrance Hall, visitors are directed through the café and souvenir shop to an escalator that leads to an atrium stretching from the ground level to the highest ceiling of the galleries above. These escalators are housed within the atrium and carry visitors from gallery to gallery. The building is in defined by a series of elements that come together to form a site engaging skin and form.
The building has entrances not only from the street but also from the Rio de La Plata boardwalk which allows people to access the site, while at the same time allowing visitors of the museum to access the boardwalk. Portions of the roof overhang above the boardwalk in order to create a cover for outdoor public seating areas that are geared for views of the Puente de Las Mujeres and across the river. These overhangs are oriented toward the renowned bridge and the adjacent Ship Museum. The original site remains somewhat preserved through a public park area in front of the building, opposite of the river. The East facing glass façade of the museum, at the ground level, allows people to experience the Puerto Madero Waterfront as the city’s physical manifestation of a contemporary art piece in itself as the city expands and changes.
The overall design approach allows the outdoor spaces to be useable to pedestrians who are not only visiting the museum, but to also visit the up and coming areas of the Puerto Madero District of Buenos Aires. The BACAM is an iconic piece of architecture redefining the character of the entire waterfront.