Expansion project

In 2025, work began on the expansion of the MACBA at Convent dels Àngels. The project inaugurates a new phase for the museum, a MACBA that wants to grow in body and soul and become more inclusive, sustainable and transparent, in order to enhance the relationship between its buildings and the public space in Plaça dels Àngels. 

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We are planning a Museum…
More participatory, accessible and pluralistic We are working to build a MACBA that is more transparent, empathetic and attentive to the realities and needs of the communities with which we coexist: neighbourhood, city and artists. A museum that will offer more accessible spaces for meeting, listening, mutual learning, conciliation, experimentation, leisure and co-responsibility. A museum with the will to generate an increasingly stronger sense of belonging and identification among the communities that visit us.
More accessible and open
We have designed a museum that opens up to and relates to the square to make the link between what happens inside the building and what happens around it more fluid; between art, culture, the city and its people. A new building with a lookout terrace, open to all citizens, that offers relaxation and greenery.
With more space for new narratives and artistic experiences More space available to share a collection in constant transformation, which allows us to activate new narratives and art histories that are essential for the analysis and interpretation of the world in which we live. More space to offer activities, educational programmes and processes of research and artistic production; to generate new dialogues and deepen the research and dissemination of knowledge.
In a livelier square with a friendlier environment
The City Council is keen to renovate Plaça dels Àngels after the MACBA and the CAP Raval Nord works. Plaça dels Àngels will be rethought to liven up with new uses, more green spaces, shade and areas for anyone to hang out and relax. New routes and pathways will be inaugurated to inhabit the square and walk through it.
Even more sustainable and committed to the environment The new architectural project is built using local materials. The building benefits from the thermal inertia of the vertical walls and active radiant systems in the floor slabs that allow for a considerable reduction in air conditioning.
Well integrated with heritage
It is a traditional building with load-bearing walls and buttresses that are overlaid on the existing medieval constructions, in a line of organic and material growth that will make the heritage elements of the Convent dels Àngels visible and accessible through the new building.
CONSTRUCTION WORK, IN REAL TIME
FOLLOW THE MACBA’S GROWTH ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS
Phase 7: Contract Awarded for the Second Phase
The works contract has been awarded. Work is scheduled to begin in October 2026.

On February 2025, construction began on the expansion of the MACBA.

Works on the evacuation staircase will continue until the end of August 2026, but they no longer affect the ground floor of the Research and Documentation Centre (CED). The Reading and Family Space has therefore reopened and is operating with its usual opening hours.

On 18 August 2025, the micropiling process began. This foundation system will reinforce the Convent dels Àngels building and serve as the base for the new construction. The works are expected to last several months.

The car park works, which began on 22 September 2025, are continuing to progress. During July, 25 parking spaces will be brought back into service, and the project is scheduled for completion in November 2026.

On 10 October 2025, the new public toilets located at the corner of Carrer dels Àngels and Carrer d’Elisabets came into operation. In November, the demolition work on the module that housed the former toilets at number 24 Carrer dels Àngels was completed.

From 11 May until the end of October 2026, a new intervention is taking place in the square, directly in front of the façade of the Research and Documentation Centre building. Specifically, the paving is being removed and trenches are being dug to establish new connections and supply power to the new transformer station. However, access to the Study and Documentation Centre remains open.
FAQ’s

From among more than thirty national and international studios that presented their projects, UTE Harquitectes and Christ & Gantenbein were the winners of the open call for the extension of the Convent dels Àngels. Their project, entitled Galería, redefines the relationship between the Meier Building, the Plaça dels Àngels and the Convent dels Àngels, on the basis of a profound knowledge of the city’s urban planning and generating a new dialogue on three scales: with the neighbourhood, with the city and with the museum itself. 

In February 2025, the first phase of the works began, which will last approximately two years. It is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027.

The expected timetable for construction is Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 6 pm. During construction, users will be informed in advance of the demolition work so that they can plan the most suitable time to visit and avoid the times of maximum acoustic impact. 

The works are divided into two phases. The first phase involves a series of tasks in Plaça dels Àngels, in the basement and the underground car park, which include: new public services, a new transformer station, the removal of the skylight in the centre of the square, and the relocation of the current car park exits. In the second phase, the volume of the new building will be constructed, which will house the MACBA’s new galleries and spaces.

During the first phase of the works, part of Plaça dels Àngels is blocked off with a fence. Pedestrian access across the square is guaranteed at all times, as well as access for service and emergency vehicles.

Trucks and construction machinery access the square through a single point on Carrer de Montalegre. 

The museum spaces continue to offer their usual entrances: the Meier Building is accessed through the usual entrance on Plaça dels Àngels; the Centre for Studies and Documentation (CED), through the building’s main door at Plaça dels Àngels, 8, which is also used to access the Library, the Archive, the Reading and Family Space, and the Convent Auditorium; and the Chapel and the other areas of the Convent dels Àngels (Forum Space, Gothic Hall, Renaissance Hall, and Auditorium), through the Chapel door at Carrer dels Àngels, 5. During the first few months of construction, a new exclusive entrance to the Convent Terrace, the Ambulant Garden, and the community garden is provided via Plaça de les Caramelles.

At the moment, vehicle and pedestrian access to the car park is not affected.

One of the first phases of the works involved relocating the public services. On 10 October, the new public services became operational, located at the corner of Carrer dels Àngels and Carrer d’Elisabets.

Yes, all these services operate normally.
FACTS AND FIGURES ON THE EXPANSION

The new museum building will have a gallery, a transparent glass space that will occupy the entire length of Plaça dels Àngels and which will allow the interior of the gallery and the apse of the chapel to be seen from the square. In this way, the gallery of the new building will be constituted as a porous space between inside and outside that connects with the plaza and allows a fluid transition between the public space and the museum halls.

The new building will also have a 349m2 viewing platform with benches and greenery, which will be open to the public during museum opening hours.

The building will be constructed with walls and buttresses that reflect the compositional logic of existing buildings, such as the Convent dels Àngels.

The new museum building in the Convent dels Àngels will have 2,110m2 of new rooms, gallery space, storerooms and facilities, and 349m2 of a viewing platform for public use. The increase in space will make it possible to show more works by artists from the Collection, offer more activities, educational programmes and research and artistic production processes, as well as activate dialogues in order to continue generating new narratives of the history of art.

The total cost of the museum’s expansion is 16.26 million euros.

In subsequent phases, Barcelona City Council will remodel Plaça dels Àngels. The new square will incorporate shaded areas and green spaces. These elements will enable new routes and pathways to inhabit the square and walk through it, and will refresh the public space in the area.
 
The municipal initiative in Plaça dels Àngels also includes work in the surrounding squares and streets, such as Plaça de Terenci Moix and the commercial area of Carrer Joaquim Costa. The aim is to refresh public spaces with urban planning and mobility interventions, specific cleaning and maintenance measures and a wide-ranging commercial revitalisation plan. This is a medium-term urban planning initiative that follows the objective included in the 23-27 District Action Plan to revitalise public space, which includes the requests of the Raval Neighbourhood Network to have a more accessible square and new spaces for public use.
 
The new square will also house the CAP Raval Nord – Dr. Lluís Sayé in the Capella de la Misericòrdia building. The new Primary Care Centre is a key component in the configuration of the new Plaça dels Àngels, for the Ciutat Vella district and for the city as a whole. The works for the new CAP began in December 2024 and require the occupation of the pavement on Carrer de Montalegre and part of the Tarongers courtyard. 
 
More information

Funded by: Barcelona City Council (ICUB) and the Ministry of Culture, within the framework of the Barcelona Cultural Capital Agreement; the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and the MACBA Foundation.

We are here to listen
Would you like to receive more information about the expansion project? Do you have any questions or concerns about the Plaça dels Àngels construction? Write to us at macba@macba.cat and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

We’re excited to keep you involved in the progress of your, of our, new MACBA!