The decision to award the prize to the team formed by Campo Baeza and Maoda was announced on July 6, 2026, during an official ceremony in the Ecuadorian capital. The other awards were also announced at the ceremony. The second prize was awarded to the MCMA–MP–EA team, comprised of professionals from Quito (Ecuador), Barcelona (Spain), and São Paulo (Brazil). In contrast, the third prize went to SANAA + A0-CPA-JHS, from Tokyo (Japan).
Two honourable mentions were also awarded: the first to the B720 Arquitectura and Lera team, from Barcelona (Spain), for their proposal "Typography of Memory"; and the second to the North-South Consortium, made up of studios from Bogotá (Colombia) and Quito (Ecuador), for the project "Strata of Memory."
The jury was composed of architects Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Eduardo McIntosh, Hernán Crespo Bermejo, Luis López, and Diego Ordóñez Holguín, along with institutional representatives Roberto Luque Nuques and Carla Arellano Granizo, the Vice Minister of Culture, Romina Muñoz, and the Director of the National Museum of Ecuador, Carlos Montalvo. Conceived as a new cultural landmark adjacent to La Carolina Park, the project is intended for the exhibition, conservation, and research of the country's artistic heritage. A state investment of $100 million is planned for the development of the preliminary architectural design.
View of the MuNa from access. "Echoes of the Sun" by Estudio de Arquitectura Campo Baeza + Maoda. Courtesy by Estudio Campo Baeza/Ethan de Clerck.
Project description by Campo Baeza
The new National Museum of Ecuador is a vessel designed to house the country’s history and its most precious artistic treasures.
The design completes La Carolina Park, at the junction of two major roads. To respond to this setting, it is set back towards the south, creating a large urban square. A square to welcome visitors, thoughtfully landscaped with trees, water features and shade to provide a transition from the noise of the city to the interior of the museum.
We also wish to reaffirm the city’s vertical character. Quito is a city that reaches for the sky, and the history of Andean architecture reflects this vertical relationship with the sky and the sun. One need only look at its stepped pyramids, the Tolas of Cochasquí or the Solar Temple of Ingapirca. In that same spirit, we propose a vertical box where light and the sun take centre stage. A box with courtyards and carved-out voids, enveloped by shaded spaces that act as a filter against the sun. A true box of light and shadow that opens out onto the city and the imposing Andean landscape.
Given the shape of the site, we have opted for a rectangular floor plan that effectively accommodates the programme and allows for the optimisation of the various access points and circulation routes. There are three distinct zones. The first, to the south, is dedicated to the exhibition spaces. A central zone for circulation. And a third zone, to the north, which includes the four vertical circulation cores—with staircases, lifts and toilet facilities—and the courtyards, which allow for the control of light whilst also serving as exhibition spaces for outdoor pieces.
Each courtyard has its own name: on the ground floor, facing east, is the Patio Sol de Oro; in the centre is the La Tolita Terrace; on the first floor is the Patio Pichincha; in the centre of the second floor is the Patio Inti; to the east is the Patio Caspicara; on the fifth upper floor is the Legarda Courtyard; on the sixth upper floor, the Ingapirca Courtyard; and crowning the MUNA is the Quito Terrace, at 2,854 metres above sea level.
We have sought to create the most beautiful museum in the world for Ecuador. A building framed by the light and shadow of Quito.
