Museo del Oro Precolombino

Practice Area

Client

Fundación Museos del Banco Central de Costa Rica

Industry

  1. The project aims to bring the pre-Columbian people and their living ancestors to life and make a meaningful interaction with the visitor.

  2. 95% of the existing museum displays where harmoniously integrated into the new design.

  3. The respect and integration of the building’s unique existing conditions was one of the main goals of the project to reimagine the museum experience.

  4. The design incorporates an ideal mix of exhibition spaces, resting and interpretation areas, and new interactive technologies.

  5. New areas where designed to allow for rest and reflection for all age groups.

  6. The design concept is based on notions of exploration, amazement, learning and interaction.

  7. Concrete, wood, and space grey finishes where used to create and optimal contrast for the display of gold artifacts as the main focus of the museum.

  8. The project is ultimately about respect and human connections across the ages; bringing the pre-Columbian people and their living ancestors to life and make a meaningful interaction with the visitor.

Project Vision

The new Pre-Columbian Gold Museum — located at the heart of downtown San José, within one of the most iconic buildings in Costa Rica — is a subterranean modern masterpiece building below the central Plaza de la Cultura. It holds one of the most relevant archaeological collections in Costa Rica and the world. Its new design reimagines the museum experience as a space for learning and interaction.

In an entire museum overhaul, the first since 2002, the design team worked closely with the museum’s museographers and museologists to create a concept based on the notions of exploration and amazement, emphasizing the buildings iconic triangular grid and raw materiality, through the use of concrete, wood and a space grey finish, creating an optimal contrast for the display of the gold artifacts that are the main focus of the museum.

The project was ultimately about respect and human connections across the ages: to bring the pre-Columbian people and their living ancestors to life through meaningful interaction with the visitor. It was key that each gold, ceramic or stone artifact, as well as newly integrated technologies, be carefully placed in the space in a way that would express and display the history and overall story of pre-Columbian Costa Rica in a whole new light; while at the same reusing 95% of all display cases from the old museum space.
A continuous ribbon element leads the visitor through the exhibition spaces in a fluid, intuitive and yet free manner while incorporating new advanced LED lighting in a way of creating something new that at the same time lives harmoniously with the existing.

The final result is a new museum experience and intriguing educational environment, in a space that incorporates an ideal mix of exhibition, resting areas, learning areas and new interactive technologies. The design incorporates an ideal mix of exhibition spaces, resting and interpretation areas, and new interactive technologies which all complement one another to create the new museum experience and intriguing educational environment suitable for one of the region’s most important archaeology museums.

Project Details
Design Team

Federico Montero (design lead & manager), Fabio Araya (technical director), Karolina Espinoza (project architect)

Project Area

1,100m2

Consultants

T Kondos Associates (lighting), Alessandro García (MEP), Pulse (interactive design)

Fabricators

HBuilders (general contractor), Jorcasa (furniture & special installations)