MACAM, Museu de Arte Contemporânea Armando Martins

Lisboa · 2025Rehabilitation: Prémio Gulbenkian Património 2025

MACAM opened in 2025 in an eighteenth-century palace on Rua da Junqueira, with more than two thousand square metres of modern and contemporary art, a hotel and a restaurant in the former chapel. The lighting is the whole of it: architectural and museographic, from the galleries to the facades.

The palace was rehabilitated and extended by MetroUrbe, and in 2025 that work received the Prémio Gulbenkian Património Maria Tereza e Vasco Vilalva: the jury, chaired by António Lamas, cited the balance struck between heritage restoration and the structural, functional and aesthetic demands of putting a museum and a five-star hotel in one building. The prize is the rehabilitation's, taken as a whole, of which this lighting is one of the specialties.

The concept was to let the lighting follow the period of the works. The visit begins in Gallery 1 with a warm, directional colour temperature, as though the works were being seen by candlelight, and across the exhibition rooms, following the works forward in time, that light keeps changing: from warm and directional to the cold, brutalist light of Gallery 2, where the most contemporary pieces are held.

In the museum the light helps read the works as discreetly as it can: keeping reflections and glare off them, limiting the exposure of the fragile pieces, and using sources of very high colour rendering.

The route is drawn in hierarchies: general light, accent light, detail light. There are points of focus, transitions of lower contrast and visual pauses between rooms, so that a visitor is led without being told where to go.

The fittings disappear into the architecture. Glare and reflection were dealt with work by work, and the whole installation is adjustable for the curatorship still to come: a museum changes its exhibition, and the lighting has to change with it.

In the temporary galleries the space was covered with a grid of tracks and spotlights that can be moved and aimed easily, so that the lighting fits whichever exhibition comes.

The tuning was done with the curator Adelaide Ginga and her team, room by room. It is that collaboration that makes the difference between simply lighting a work and presenting it.

Scope of the lighting design

Architectural lighting of the museum and the hotel
Museographic lighting of permanent and temporary exhibitions
Guest rooms, apartments, restaurant and the àcapela bar
Facade and garden lighting
Conservation-sensitive lighting of the works
Lighting controls and scenes

Client: MACAM
Founder: Armando Martins
Architecture: MetroUrbe
Interiors: Andrez Andrez
Curator: Adelaide Ginga
Location: Rua da Junqueira, Lisbon, in the former Palácio dos Condes da Ribeira Grande
Lighting: Diana Delnegro Architectural Lighting, then Lightware

Museums and art galleries Architectural lighting Museum lighting

The atrium of the temporary exhibition galleries under its faceted ceiling, the light caught in the folds and the glazed facade at night. — Atrium of the temporary exhibition galleries

The approach corridor from the car park, a continuous line of light on the ceiling pulling the perspective and the names cut into the concrete walls. — Approach corridor

The exterior stair up to the gardens and the temporary exhibitions building at night, the handrails lit from within drawing the climb against the ceramic panel beyond. — Stair to the gardens and the temporary exhibitions building

The temporary gallery, the sculpture standing in its own pool of light on the floor and a circular opening cut through the wall returning the painting in the room beyond. — Temporary gallery

The entrance atrium of the hotel and the museum. The lighting, perfectly integrated into the design of the gridded ceiling, accentuates its presence and depth. — Entrance atrium, hotel and museum

The entrance to Gallery 1, the wall text washed by a cove, the timber door at the centre and the classical sculpture lit inside its case. — Entrance to Gallery 1

The transition gallery, its track of spotlights answering displays that change. — Transition gallery

Três Graças, by Miguel Branco: three intertwined skeletal figures under a glass dome in the masonry niche, lit from within, the light falling on the terracotta floor and leaving the brick vault reading around it. — Três Graças, by Miguel Branco, in a masonry niche

A room in Gallery 1 under the brick vaults, with the sculpture Eva, by José Magalhães, at the centre and paintings on the walls. — Gallery 1 · Eva, by José Magalhães

A room in Gallery 2, works by several artists under the brick vaults: the stone piers take a grazing light, each work is held by its own spot and the tulle sculpture hangs from the vault; the polished floor returns the whole room. — Gallery 2, works by several artists

A room in Gallery 2, photographic works around a sculpture at the centre: the tracks draw the route across the ceiling and every print is taken without a reflection in its glass; the striped chaise sits on its plinth at the centre. — Gallery 2, photographic works and a sculpture at the centre

Paintings on glass in Gallery 2: the overlapping panels, the painted figures throwing their own shadow onto the white wall behind and the light crossing the glass without lighting it up. — Gallery 2, lighting paintings on glass

A room in Gallery 1, works by José de Almada Negreiros and Lino António taken one by one from the track, the opening through to the next room and the timber bench at the centre; the polished floor returns the whole wall. — Gallery 1 · Almada Negreiros and Lino António

A room in Gallery 1, the José Malhoa leading it, each painting taken by its own spot and the mirrored floor doubling the sequence to the far end. — Gallery 1, with the José Malhoa leading the room

Guest rooms

A guest room at the MACAM Hotel, the terracotta panelled wall behind the bed and a cove of light running the ceiling. — Guest room, terracotta panelling

The same room from the other side, the wardrobes washed by a cove and the herringbone floor running to the door. — The same room, from the wardrobe side

The bathroom of the same room, the fluted terracotta tile grazed with light and the round mirror backlit. — Bathroom, fluted tile

A room in taupe, vertical wall lights flanking the painting and the cove washing the ceiling above linen curtains. — Guest room, taupe

A painting on a narrow beam above the marble desk, the table lamp making the second layer. — Painting and desk

A suite bathroom, a cove of light running the whole ceiling, tall mirrors and a freestanding tub. — Suite bathroom

The principal suite beneath its painted nineteenth-century dome, lifted by a continuous cove of light. — Principal suite

A guest room seen through the frosted glass partition, the ceiling washed by a cove and a floor lamp over herringbone parquet. — Guest room, through frosted glass

A room in deep blue, the cove separating the pale ceiling from the dark walls and wall lights flanking the painting. — Guest room, deep blue

The bathroom of a new-wing room, the fluted glass shower at the left, the backlit round mirror over the stone basin and the timber shelf washed from below. — Bathroom, new wing

Common spaces

The monumental staircase of the palace, a cascade of crystal globes falling from the dome over the wrought-iron balustrade. — Monumental staircase in perspective

The hotel library under its cove-washed dome, linear light built into the shelving, the crystal chandelier at the centre and the palace monograms on the spandrels. — Library

A guest floor corridor, vertical linear wall lights on the plastered wall and a cove washing the ceiling to the far end. — Guest floor corridor

The monumental staircase seen from below, its two flights opening under the cascade of globes with the lit enfilade beyond. — Monumental staircase

Exteriors

The lighting of the palace, the gardens and the facade of the temporary galleries building: the palace facade grazed with light and returned by the water mirror, light lines set into the paving, and at the right the perforated ceramic facade of the new wing. — Lighting the palace, the gardens and the temporary galleries facade

MACAM, restaurant and the àcapela bar

The restaurant dining room, the ceiling lit pink over the laid tables, the counter at the far end and the glazed facade to the left. — Restaurant dining room

The museum cafeteria, the counter shelving lit from within, the blue wall beyond and terracotta chairs on the timber floor. — Museum cafeteria

The facade of the palace's former private chapel, now the entrance to the àcapela bar, at night, grazed from below, the quoins, the pediment and the door surrounds drawn in light against the deep blue sky. — The entrance to the àcapela bar, the palace's former private chapel

The chapel dome seen straight up. The light helps complete the trompe-l'œil, creating the impression of a dome on a ceiling that is almost flat. — The àcapela dome

The àcapela bar from the piano nobile, with Trinity, the installation by the Spanish artist Carlos Aires, burning red in the chancel arch, and the painted dome above. — The àcapela · Trinity, by Carlos Aires

The àcapela bar counter under the chancel arch, the pilasters and the vault washed from below and, beyond it, Carlos Aires's black and gold panel above the bottle shelf. — The àcapela bar, the counter