“In addition to new entries at either end of this zone, Moneo created additional access by reopening the museum's central porticoed entrance, previously used only for official occasions, and taking over the ground floor of the apse-shaped hall behind it as a new center of circulation for both the existing building and the addition. This strategy develops what Moneo calls a ‘transversal axis’ latent in Villanueva's original plan.”8 This ultimately reestablished a missing ground plane the museum once had and created a work that functions in a respectful but contemporary dialogue with the originally designed neoclassical structure and the surviving remains of San Jerónimo. Relating to the architecture itself, Rafael Maneo rejected any hint of grandiosity as seen by his most recent projects at the time and crafted an appropriately dignified amplification that neither lays unobservant nor begs for attention. “The main feature of his facade is a brick loggia, with fluted brick columns, a cast bronze wall behind them, and crowned by a marble lintel, a purely decorative gesture, somewhat retro-Deco in style, that establishes a secondary, stabilizing horizontal element above the level of the church's eroded platform and creates a dialogue with the portico of the Academy of Letters on the other side of the church.”9 This perfectly continues his main method to find harmony through contrast as well as to create a new sensible experience of space through the different connections of the building. “The extension and underground link, which together add some fifty percent extra space to the museum, are large enough to house, in addition to the foyer, a café and shop; a sizeable lecture hall; a prints and drawings department; much needed storage for the Prado’s vast collections; and conservation studios in the world.”10 All of which is useful, intellectually conceived and, above all, refreshing in its modesty.11 Moneo perceives his work for the Prado as essentially a public service. “‘This wasn't the occasion to celebrate an architect's personal expression,’ he emphasizes. He distinguishes his approach from the additions of I.M. Pei to the Louvre or Venturi, Scott Brown for London's National Gallery, where ‘the structure and organization of the museums were completely transformed. The Prado has been spared,’ he asserts. ‘The identity and character of the original museum have been maintained.’”12 At the same time, however, he has integrated the original building with its surroundings, introducing both the contemporary voice of his intervention and the more fragile presence of the cloister, which opens figure 2. http://www.arquitour.com/ampliacion-del-museo-del-prado-rafa-
8. Norman Foster. "Los límites del Prado = The limits of the Prado." AV Monografías = AV Monographs no. 62: 112-115. 9. Cohn, 123. 10. Shone, 583. 11. Fig. 2. Apliación del Museo del Prado – Rafael Moneo. The Prado Museum, Madrid. (Pg. 10) 12. Cohn, 124.
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