After rejecting the first design for the National Museum, the government announces a new winner

By Daniel Jonas Roche

Transportation Minister Roberto Luque announced Monday that the design of a consortium of five architectural firms has been chosen for the new National Museum in Quito. “We have a winner!” Luque said in a X post. “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter. We will not only build a museum, but also a cultural and architectural icon for Quito, for Ecuador, and for the entire region.”

The facade of Ecuador’s new National Museum will feature a “suspended system” expressed in terra-cotta, according to its designers. Its curvilinear form mimics the Pichincha Volcano above Quito, the say. (Courtesy SANAA)

The winning design was chosen a week after another design was chosen by an independent review committee but was rejected by the government.

The winning entry by Japanese firm SANAA and four collaborators is titled “Living Strata.” It is rooted in pre- and post-Columbian cultures, and “collective memory, gathering, and connection with the cosmos,” the architects said in a project statement. Museum consultants DVDL and Monica Vorbeck are also on the project team with SANAA.

SANAA’s design replaces the proposal by Studio Campo Baeza and MAODA that was initially selected as part of an international competition hosted by the Ecuadorian government.

Competition Controversy
The proposal by Studio Campo Baeza and MAODA was criticized on social media after it was named the first prize winner on July 6 for its boxy concrete look and lack of connection with Carolina Park and Ecuadorian national identity.

Two officials closely associated with the competition resigned from their posts on July 9. On July 10, Luque announced that the proposal by Studio Campo Baeza and MAODA had been rejected, and a new vote incorporating public input would take place. Ironically, Luque served on the committee that initially selected the Campo Baeza / MAODA design.

The original competition winner “Ecos del Sol” was rejected by the Ecuadorian government. (Courtesy National Museum of Ecuador)

Between July 12 and 14, the 17 shortlisted firms were sent emails asking if they would like to participate in a “final and definitive phase” of the competition. Of the 17 offices, nine agreed to continue.

On social media this Sunday, July 19, Luque said that over 50,600 Ecuadorians participated in the voting process. The evaluation system was a composite between a “new technical jury” and public vote.

Wonne Ickx, founder of PRODUCTORA, one of the shortlisted firms, wrote in an op-ed for Arquine that the new technical jury included “three jurors with close ties to President Daniel Noboa’s family as well the politically connected Nobis real estate group.” Ickx alleged that this created “an obvious conflict of interest.”

The new technical jury counted for 85 percent of the vote. Public consultation constituted the remaining 15 percent. SANAA won 81.7 points, the highest of the nine participants who re-entered the competition.

SANAA won by one-tenth of a point, a slim margin. In second place was the proposal by Mario Cucinella Architects, which earned 81.6 points. In third place was B720 Arquitectura & LERA with 79.3 points.

The (New) Winner
The design “Living Strata” is fronted by a large open plaza that continues inside the building, to the main floors. The museum facade will be a “suspended system” expressed in terra-cotta. Its curvilinear form mimics the Pichincha Volcano above Quito.

Plant terraces will be located on upper levels of the new national museum in Quito. (Courtesy SANAA)

Public programs and the museum entrance at grade are “organized as a series of islands within an open landscape,” and a continuation of the nearby Carolina Park. The concept was conceived in tandem with a diverse group of Indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, and mestizo advisors, deeply rooted in Ecuador’s four regions.

Inside, visitors will experience the museum as “a system of interconnected vertical plazas,” the architects noted. Courtyards running through the building evoke traditions that link “earth and sky,” and the museum’s collection and educational programming.

Flexible and expansive galleries are designed to provide visitors a “fluid spatial experience where perceptions expand and contract.” The galleries create “moments of intimacy and openness,” the architects affirmed. The galleries will display cultural artifacts from the National Museum of Ecuador’s collection of 1.2 million items.

Discontentment
Studio Campo Baeza and other architects who participated in the competition have expressed frustration with the course of events.In an official statement issued July 14, Studio Campo Baeza said that debate is to be expected of such a large cultural commission, and that it wasn’t “allowed” to improve its design using public feedback. The recall “undermines the transparency and integrity of a public competition process whose rules have been published and explicitly accepted by all participating teams,” Studio Campo Baeza said.

On July 18, PRODUCTORA founder Wonne Ickx said he was “deeply frustrated by the outcome of the competition” in an op-ed for Arquine. “Competitions remain scarce in the region, and for firms like ours—without privileged access to capital or political influence — they represent a crucial avenue for participating in broader architectural and cultural conversations,” Ickx said.

Ickx was dismayed that the competition organizers did not offer fees to the offices selected for the second phase. He continued: “what is most worrying is the panicked reaction of frightened politicians and the subsequent reduction of the process to a popularity contest based on minimal information.”

Construction on the National Museum of Ecuador is expected to begin in January 2027.
________________

Credit: The Architect’s Newspaper