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The MNAC in Barcelona is expanding: who are Christ & Gantenbian and Harquitectes?
Christ & Gantenbein and Harquitectes will lead the 27,000 m² expansion of the MNAC, a project that seeks to open the museum to the city, strengthen the connection with the urban environment of Montjuïc and highlight the historical and heritage values of the Victoria Eugènia Palace.
The MNAC is preparing a new extension to its historic headquarters in the Palau Victoria Eugènia, on the mountain of Montjuïc. The Swiss studio Christ & Gantenbein, together with the Catalan Harquitectes, have been unanimously chosen as the winner of the international competition that will define the 27,000 m² extension, coinciding with the centenary of the Barcelona International Exhibition of 1929.
Who are the chosen architectural studios? Cristo & Gantenbein and Harquitectes: architecture between historical and contemporary context
The competition jury highlighted that the winning proposal succeeds in opening the museum to the city, highlighting how the project fosters the connection between the building and the urban environment. They also positively assessed the treatment of the volumetric, spatial and heritage values of the Victoria Eugènia Palace.
The Swiss studio Christ & Gantenbein, founded in 1998 by Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein and based in Basel and Barcelona, has a team of over 100 architects from 20 countries. Its trajectory combines projects of different scales and typologies, from cultural institutions and infrastructures to housing, workspaces and urban master plans.
Among its most notable works are the expansion of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich and the extension of the Kunstmuseum in Basel, two emblematic interventions that integrate contemporary architecture into historically significant contexts. Other notable projects include the Lindt Home of Chocolate in Zurich (2020) and a multifunctional building for Roche in Germany. The studio is currently working on the expansion of the MACBA in Barcelona, the renovation of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, the Kistefos Museum in Norway, the rehabilitation of the Kunstmuseum in Basel, the Swiss National Library in Bern and the transformation of the campus of the University Hospital in Zurich. Its methodology closely combines practice and research, creating projects with conceptual depth and contextual rigor.
For its part, the Catalan firm Harquitectes, founded in 2000 by David Lorente, Josep Ricart, Xavier Ros and Roger Tudó, combines its professional activity with teaching at the Faculty of Architecture of the UPC (ETSAV and ETSAB), at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Z´urich and at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Their trajectory stands out for an approach that unites innovation, context and architectural rigor, making them ideal collaborators for projects that dialogue with heritage and the city.
