Museum of Photography

The challenge of designing a new shelter for one of the largest collections of photography in Brazil, until then reclusive of the public eye, was taken with the great responsibility of displaying this historical record. The set consists of more than 2,000 pieces including historical names such as Steve McCurry, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Marcel Gautherot, who share space with other leading artists in contemporary production - among them André Liohn, Claudia Andujar, Rosângela Rennó , among others.

The object of the work was an existing building with approximately 2000 m² of constructed area, located in the Varjota neighborhood, in Fortaleza, Ceará. With a very active social life, the neighborhood is considered a gastronomic pole, and an important meeting point for part of the city's public.

As a former headquarters of the Instituto Brasil - United States (IBEU), the building had a structure of various spans, low ceilings, poorly sized openings, poor accessibility and an inexpressive façade that did little to interact with the street. Soon in the first stage of the retrofit, the building was reduced to its structural skeleton and external fences.

The building has a total of five floors. Already in the main access, there is a generous staircase that marks the axis of entrance of the Museum. Associated with it, there is the ramp for wheelchairs treated in a sculptural manner in the composition of the façade and highlighted by a wide recuado that functions as a small square, which houses the carnaúba, tree typical of the northeastern semi-arid region and that brings the regional element to the sober volumetry of the building. The ground floor comprises the Lobby, a hybrid area that houses coffee shop, library, shop, social bathrooms and temporary exhibition area. The permanent exhibition occupies the first and second floors, identical in plan, completely sober in the exhibition areas, but they exhibit a pleasant vertical garden in the area of ​​the catwalk, which represents a transition, almost like a visual rest, between fragments of the shows.On the third floor there is a partially covered terrace overlooking the city, and a multipurpose room, both for events, workshops and lectures. In the subsoil, the entire administrative and support part was settled, including a technical reserve for the acquis.

Some measures were taken so that there was a control of natural light in the building, important for conservation of the works and quality of the museum space. 
Most of the old openings were sealed, but a central atrium was maintained and gained walkways, adding visual interaction and enabling a circuit path in the once confined and linear pavements. The liner was completely removed to increase the ceiling, and a disordered network of existing beams was reconciled with apparent gutters that accommodate all disciplines of the Museum's facilities: lighting, climate control, and facilities were resolved in this space.

The transformation of the facade was one of the most dramatic alterations of the project. The existing building already contemplated an outstanding block in balance represented by the volume of the upper floors, which was little evidenced in the facade. In addition, several visual barriers prevented the contemplation of the building from the walk. The concept of the project was the valorization of this volume in balance as the main element of the facade, covering it with a loose metallic structure of the external masonry and perforated ACM plates, which, in addition to protecting the strong solar incidence of Fortaleza itself, through its variation of hole sizes, a dynamism to this pure volume, generating a kind of mosaic. 
As a finish, the marquees were added, one smaller shading the main access, providing the use of a glass skin that makes a counterpoint to the opacity of other materials, and a larger, "L", gently placed on the roof of the building, generating the ideal proportion for the set of elements of this facade.

The main intention of the project was to create a contemporary architecture that expressed, through its volumetry, timelessness and sobriety of forms and materials. Not to mention, of course, the striking identity afforded by the façade, easily assimilated by anyone who has ever seen it.

Source: https://www.archdaily.com.br/br/874963/museu-da-fotografia-de-fortaleza-marcus-novais-arquitetura