Minart Museum

Benjamin Fernandez, owner of the Black Coffee Gallery approached JGMA with a historic building located in the heart of downtown Guadalajara, Mexico and a very large collection of art representing of the Hispanic contribution to the art world. The existing building, a crumbling neoclassical home, would be restored, preserved and added-on to, and will house a temporary and permanent gallery space and supporting spaces like a coffee shop, souvenir store and a space to host events.

Although, the frontal portion of the villa will remain, the design proposes an addition towards the back end of the property. This addition would maximize the amount of surface area for all the art pieces and be part of a continuum ramp that winds from the inside of the historic building above the rooflines of the existing buildings. This nautilus ramp pierces spaces for art and sculpture, allowing voids inside an ascending floor to hold larger sculptural pieces. The exterior of the new addition is the result of the ramp language that makes up the gallery space, and it is expressed in the façade in such a way that it breaks down the scale while fitting within the context. To further accentuate its belonging to the context, and to achieve its monolithic look, a natural stone material will be used that will seamlessly achieve the perfect angular but yet elegant edges that make-up the apertures along the façade.