Royal Collections Gallery. Final of the Works, the beginning of the layout of Works

National Heritage has received the fourth and final phase of the Museum of Royal Collections, corresponding to "Facilities and finishing" the building phase ending with the work started with the contest of 2002. This phase completes the process initiated 18 years ago, and it starts the final stage to convert the Museum of Royal Collections at the principal means of disseminating cultural complex of National Heritage.

Royal Collections Museum by Emilio Tuñón Álvarez and Luis Moreno García-Mansilla. Photography © Luis Asin.

The building of the Museum of Royal Collections, which was designed by the architects Emilio Tuñón Alvarez and Luis Moreno Garcia-Mansilla, is completely built. The total budget of the work has finally been of 139.7 million euros, with savings of 18.9 million euros compared to the initial project. The final cost of the entire project (work and museum, complete equipment stores and public areas, restoration campaign and artworks transfers) is estimated at 171.5 million euros, a decrease of at least 29.2 million euros in relation to the cost originally planned.

The opening of the Museum, with processing times of the dossier and the process of museology layout, is planned in the second half of 2017.

It is a building of 40,000 m² on a total of 14 floors (7 in front of the Campo del Moro and 14 in the East facade, next to the Cathedral), harboring showrooms of 103 meters long and 16 meters wide with heights ranging from 6 until 8 meters, 6 department stores, reception of works of art, public reception areas, offices, and spaces for technical rooms and facilities.

From an urban perspective, the project is based on two fundamental principles: on the one hand, the Royal Collections Museum should be part of the natural/artificial landscape of Madrid’s western edge, and on the other, it is necessary to maintain the open public nature of La Almunena Square and preserve views of the parks and gardens beneath the western lip of the city. The Museum, in its linear structure becomes an inhabited retaining wall, thus reducing the objective (physical) and subjective (collective subconscious) impact on the monumental plinth of the Royal Palace.

The aim is to produce a building that is invisible from La Almudena Square by occupying the space underground. The Royal Collections Museum completes the plinth of the Royal Palace, constructing a linear space that follows the lines of the Palace itself. A simple and compact building, a construction that is aware that maximum flexibility and potential are only possible within a strict order. It uses the materials of the Royal Palace and its dignified construction as a feature, with a modern layout, heavy yet light, opaque yet transparent.

The three exhibition levels –again equal yet different- hold three differentiated collections: tapestries, paintings and carriages. Each space is organised like a warehouse measuring one hundred and fifty by twenty metres, flanked by the remains of the Arab wall to the east and a monumental lattice composed of massive granite pillars to the west, opening to views above the Campo del Moro Royal Gardens.

The views across the gardens happen in the space between the structural elements, just like the pillars are matter between voids. The space is the rhythm of the beams, and the installations are the interface between the elements that hold the building up. Structure, illumination, views, space, and infrastructure all have blurred edges and exchanged attributes. The Royal Collections Museum is a plinth for the Palace from the outside; a frame for views of the gardens and the interior features from the inside. The most important things already exist; our job is to make them visible.

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Overview. Royal Collections Museum by Emilio Tuñón Álvarez and Luis Moreno García-Mansilla. Image courtesy of Patrimonio Nacional.

Royal Collections Museum by Emilio Tuñón Álvarez and Luis Moreno García-Mansilla. Image courtesy of Patrimonio Nacional.

Inside. Royal Collections Museum by Emilio Tuñón Álvarez and Luis Moreno García-Mansilla. Image courtesy of Patrimonio Nacional.

Detail. Royal Collections Museum by Emilio Tuñón Álvarez and Luis Moreno García-Mansilla. Photography © Luis Asin.

Access. Royal Collections Museum by Emilio Tuñón Álvarez and Luis Moreno García-Mansilla. Image courtesy of Patrimonio Nacional.

Royal Collections Museum by Emilio Tuñón Álvarez and Luis Moreno García-Mansilla.

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More information

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Architects

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Luis M. Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón.

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Project team

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Matilde Peralta, Rubén Arend, Andrés Regueiro, Clara Moneo, Teresa Cruz, Jaime Gimeno, Stefania Previati, David Nadal, Oscar F. Aguayo, Carlos Martínez de Albornoz, Asa Nakano, María José Castillón, Javier González Galán, Mila Moskalenko.

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Collaborators

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Structural engineers.- Alfonso Gómez Gaite.
Mechanical engineers.- J.G. Asociados.
Quantity Surveyor/Technical Architect.- Santiago Hernán and Juan Carlos Corona.

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Client

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Patrimonio Nacional.

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General contractor

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FCC.

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Area

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Built area.- 40.000 m².

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Dates

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Competition.- 2002. Design project.- 2003. Completion.- 2016.

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Photography

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Luis Asin.

Emilio Tuñón Álvarez

Emilio Tuñón Álvarez (b. Madrid, January 1, 1959) is an architect from ETSAM since 1981, PhD in Architecture since 2000 and a Professor of Architectural Projects at the School of Architecture of Madrid since 2016. In 2022 he was awarded the National Architecture Prize. In 2014 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts by the Spanish government, the Mies van der Rohe Prize 2007, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture 2007, the Spanish National Architecture Prize 2003 and the FAD Awards 2001, 2007 and 2011.

In 1992 he founded, with Luis M. Mansilla, Mansilla + Tuñón Arquitectos, whose most representative works are: the Gastropabellón in Zurich (2017), the Museum of the Royal Collections in Madrid (2016), the Relaix Chateaux Atrio in Cáceres (2012), the MUSAC in León (2007), the Documentary Center «El Águila» in Madrid (2003), the Auditorium of León (2003), the Museum of Castellón (2000) and the Museum of Zamora (1996).

In 1993, Emilio Tuñón founded the CIRCO cooperative of thoughts together with Luis Moreno Mansilla and Luis Rojo, editing a publication of the same name, which was awarded the prize of the III Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Engineering, the C.O.A.M prize and the special FAD 2007 critics' prize.

After the death of Luis M. Mansilla (February 22, 2012), Tuñon worked in his studio as Tuñon Arquitectos, going on shortly thereafter (2015) to found the Tuñón y Albornoz Arquitectos studio together with Carlos Martínez Albornoz.

Emilio Tuñón is currently Professor of the Department of Architectural Projects at the School of Architecture of Madrid (E.T.S.A.M) and has been a visiting professor at numerous universities: Jean Labatout Professor at the Princeton University School of Architecture, Eliot Noyes Professor at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, visiting professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and the Städelschule in Frankfurt.

Emilio Tuñón's work has been recognized, among other awards, with the following prizes: National Architecture Award 2022, RIBA International Fellowship 2019, Eduardo Torroja Award 2018, Community of Madrid Award 2018, Spanish Architecture Award 2017, International Spanish Architecture Award 2017, FAD Award 2017, COAM Award 2016, Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts 2014, Mies van der Rohe Award 2007. Since 2007 Emilio Tuñón has been a patron of the Arquia Foundation, awarded the CSCAE Gold Medal in 2015.

With Tuñón Arquitectos and Mansilla + Tuñón Arquitectos, he was the winner of various public architecture competitions: First prize in the competition for the Masterplan of Kalaja e Turres Port, Albania (2014). First prize in the Down Town District Residental Tower competition in Dubai (2013). First prize in the competition for the Neubau Gastro-pavillon at the ETH Zurich (2013). First prize in the competition for the Wine Dome in Valbuena de Duero (2012). First prize in the competition for the Museo Territorio de Migraciones in Algeciras (2008). First prize in the competition for the Museum of Visigothic Art in the Vega Baja de Toledo (2010). First prize in the competition for the Energy Dome in the Ciudad del Medio Ambiente in Soria (2008). First prize in the competition for the International Congress Centre of the City of Madrid (2007). First prize in the competition for the Helga de Alvear Foundation in Cáceres (2005). First prize in the competition for the new building for the Lalín Town Hall (2004). First prize in the competition for the remodelling of the Valbuena area in Logroño (2003). First prize in the competition for the Museum of Royal Collections (2002). First prize in the competition for the Museum of Cantabria (2002). First prize in the competition for the Architectural Complex dedicated to the Sanfermines (2001). First prize in the competition for the Centre for Contemporary Art in Brescia (2000). First prize in the competition for the Museum of Fine Arts in Castellón (1997). First prize in the competition for the Auditorium of the city of León (1996). First prize in the competition for the Cultural Centre of the Community of Madrid in the old factory «El Aguila» (1995).

His projects and articles have been published in numerous national and international indexed journals, and his work is collected in numerous monographs, among which should be highlighted those published by AV Proyectos 65 in 2014 and the magazine El Croquis 161 in 2012, Mansilla + Tuñón Architects published by Edil Stampa in 2012, AV Monografías magazine 144 in 2011, Mansilla + Tuñón published by Electa in 2007, el Croquis 115-116 (II) in 2003, 2G magazine 27 in 2003.

Emilio Tuñón Álvarez, Luis M. Mansilla. MANSILLA Y TUÑON

In 1992 Emilio Tuñón Álvarez (1958) and Luis M. Mansilla (1959) founded the firm MANSILLA + TUÑÓN ARQUITECTOS, awarded with the MIES VAN DER ROHE PRIZE 2007 (Prize for Contemporary Architecture of the European Union), National Prize for Spanish Architecture 2003, FAD Prize 2001.

Emilio Tuñón and Luis M. Mansilla are titular professors of the Department of Architectural Projects in Madrid. They have been professors in a number of universities, among which are the Graduate School of Design in Harvard, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, the New School of Architecture in Puerto Rico and the Städelschule in Frankfurt. They are currently giving clases in the School of Architecture of Princeton University.

In 1993 they founded the cooperative of thought CIRCO, coming out with a publication under the same title, and which has been awarded with the FAD Special Prize 2007, the prize for the III Iberoamerican Bienal for Architecture and Engineering 2002 and the C.O.A.M. Prize 2005.

Mansilla + Tuñón were awarded the following commissions: Institucional Building for the City of the Environment in Soria (2008), Madrid Internacional Convention Center (2007), Helga de Alvear Foundation Art Center in Cáceres (2005), Lalín Town Hall (2004), Master Plan of the area of Valbuena in Logroño (2003), Library on Artists Street in Madrid (2003), Cantabria Museum (2002). Royal Collections Museum (2002), Sanfermines Museum (200l), Brescia Contemporary Cultural Center of (2000), Castellón Fine Arts Museum (1998), City of León Auditorium (1996), Cultural Center of Madrid in the old El Águila warehouse (1995).