Iberê Camargo Foundation, Contemporary art museum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The Iberê Camargo Foundation sits in a white concrete structure with extended walkways designed by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza, positioned along the Guaíba Lake shoreline. The building spans multiple levels connected by curved ramps that link galleries and frame views of the surrounding landscape.
The foundation was established in 1995 and relocated from the artist's former home to this location in 2008, opening a new chapter for Porto Alegre's cultural institutions. This move allowed for larger exhibition spaces and a permanent home for the artist's legacy.
The foundation takes its name from the gaúcho painter Iberê Camargo (1914–1994), whose widow Maria Coussirat Camargo created it in 1995, a year after his death, to hold the collection he left her. Today it runs exhibitions, courses, seminars and meetings on contemporary art, and keeps a documentation and research centre with a database on his work open to national and international researchers.
Visitors move through exhibition spaces using a system of curved ramps that accommodate different mobility needs and ease navigation across levels. The gentle slopes and open walkways make it simple to explore the building at your own pace without steep stairs or tight passages.
The project won the Golden Lion at the 8th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2002, before construction began in Porto Alegre. It was the first award of its kind for South America. In 2014 the building received the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize.
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