Kengo Kuma & Associates

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian 

Kengo Kuma & Associates + OODA + VDLA

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra

ARCHITECTS
Kengo Kuma & Associates, Ooda, Vdla

LANDSCAPE
Traços Na Paisagem - Lugar Invisível

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Buro Happold, Quadrante

DIRECTOR
Benjamin Weil

DEPUTY DIRECTOR
Ana Botella

PRINCIPAL IN CHARGE
Kengo Kuma

ARCHITECTS
Oporto Office For Design And Architecture

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Vladimir Djurovic

PHOTOGRAPHS
Fernando Guerra, Joanna Correia, Fernando Lemos

LOCATION
Lisboa, Portugal

CATEGORY
Museum

YEAR
2024

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra

CAM-Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian will reopen to the public on 21st September 2024 following an extensive reimagining led by acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, marking the architect's first completed project in Portugal.

Conceived by British architect Sir Leslie Martin, the original building opened in 1983 to house one of the world's most significant collections of modern and contemporary Portuguese art.

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Joanna Correia
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Joanna Correia

Currently undergoing a significant transformation, CAM is nestled within the verdant grounds of Lisbon's Gulbenkian Foundation, a multi-disciplinary campus comprised of iconic 1960's buildings immersed in an 18-acre woodland, the legacy of the prolific collector and philanthropist, Calouste Gulbenkian (1869 - 1955).

Highlights of the opening programme include a major exhibition featuring an installation by Berlin-based, Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes presented alongside a selection of works by women artists from CAM's Collection, as well as two days of live arts events free for the public to attend.

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra

CAM will continue to house a major open collection of almost 12,000 artworks spanning paintings, sculptures, installations, drawings, prints, photographs and films by some of the country's most renowned artists, such as Helena Almeida, Paula Rego and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva.

CAM also holds a significant collection of works by international and British artists, including Robert Delaunay, David Hockney and Bridget Riley, among many others.

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Joanna Correia

Bringing together the modern and the contemporary, CAM plans to explore and revisit segments of its expansive art collection through multiple perspectives.

For CAM's new iteration, Kengo Kuma's contemporary transformation seamlessly connects the building with the surrounding gardens and city.

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Lemos
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Lemos

Defined by a 100-metre-long sweeping canopy, composed from ceramic tiles made in Portugal, the architecture and interiors have been conceived by Japanese architecture firm Kengo Kuma Associates.

The building's redesign by Kuma draws from the Engawa, a sheltered walkway typical of Japanese dwellings, considered neither totally inside nor outside.

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Joanna Correia
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra

Incorporating this typology, the architecture has been integrated into the surrounding gardens of the Gulbenkian Foundation – a nod to Kuma's vision for 'soft and humane architecture' and in response to CAM's commitment to establish a greater connection between the building, the garden and the city.

Accessed through a new entrance, the gardens have been extended to create a fluid and dense urban forest conceived by landscape designer Vladimir Djurovic.

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra

For CAM's next chapter, design studio A Practice for Everyday Life has developed its new visual identity, inspired by the organic lines and sheltering nature of the Engawa and the building.

Architect, Kengo Kuma comments: "In our vision for CAM, we craft a seamless fusion, where architecture and nature converse in harmony.

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra

Inspired by the essence of the Engawa, we unveil a new outdoor narrative, inviting visitors to slow down and make this space their own.

The idea of softness and transition is extended to the CAM interior where we created new spaces by subtraction, replicating the building connection to the garden and exterior light ."

Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra


Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Joanna Correia
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Joanna Correia
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Joanna Correia
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Landscape Render
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Joanna Correia
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Guerra


Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Lemos
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Lemos
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Lemos
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Lemos
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Lemos
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
© Fernando Lemos


Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Landscape Render
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Landscape Render


Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Master Plan - Landscape


Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Landscape Elevation
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Landscape Elevation


Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Model - Landscape
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Model - Landscape
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Model - Landscape
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Model - Landscape


Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
South Entrance
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
South Elevation
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
West Elevation
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
North Elevation
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Elevation
Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Elevation

Kengo Kuma & Associates
T +81 3 3401 7721 F +81 3 3401 7778
Kengo Kuma & Associates
2 Chome-24-8 Minamiaoyama, Minato City, Tokyo 107-0062, Japan
OODA
T +351 220 114002
OODA
R. Conselheiro Costa Braga 318, 4450-102 Matosinhos, Portugal