Isay Weinfeld

The building, made up of 5 blocks housing the museum functions and grouped according to usage affinities and public traffic, rises from a ground floor crossed by an internal passageway connecting Atlântica Avenue to Aires Saldanha Street. Each volume features a different external cover that fulfills the lighting-control needs of the respective internal functions.
In the first block, immediately above ground floor and directly accessible from the passageway, lies the area reserved for temporary exhibits. The external latticework surface screens the natural light, whose control can be done through internal baffles, according to the character of each exhibition.
The next block, housing two floors of permanent collections, is windowless, counting only with artificial lighting, thus allowing for total control of the lighting in the exhibition areas.
Following the main exhibition areas, an open floor works as a raised square that, in addition to offering a beautiful view over Copacabana, serves as entry hall to the multidirectional projection room.
The next block houses the areas for didactic, consultative, and administrative activities; areas where natural lighting is welcome, coming from the glass-encased façade, shielded by baffles softening the solar lighting.
The top floor houses the restaurant and piano bar in a fully glass-encased volume, offering scenic views.
There is a ludic path through external metal stairs featuring different patterns and finishes, which highlight the connection between the volumes and serve as belvederes to visitors using them.
Reinforcing the notion of the sidewalk as a meeting point for locals, artists and visitors, the ground level features three public-interest venues: the corner bar and the store, facing Atlântica Avenue and Aires Saldanha Street, as well a the reception, located on the passageway formed by the extension of the opposite sidewalks that come together on the plot of land.
From the passageway, visitors may also go directly to the auditorium, located on the first underground level. On that floor, and the remaining underground levels, are the other areas mandatorily located underground, according to the edict – laboratory, study, storage, parking area and supply room.