The morphology of the elements that configure the proposal is bold and explicit: three pieces are revealed above ground – the gallery entrance pavilion, the library entrance pavilion and the patio – and three are buried – the classrooms, the exhibition gallery and the interior garden. Each of the elements above ground related directly to one of the elements underground. One appears as the pondering image of the other. The pavilion at Paseo Colon reflects on the exhibition gallery; the library pavilion on the classrooms; and the jacaranda patio on the interior garden. This disposition of the elements evokes the paradigmatic Romanticism image of the pavilion or the circular temple over the grotto. The classical element, of severe order, and the organic construction of sensitive order.

The project contains two filtering elements that mediate between the exterior and interior experiences, but also between the distinctive classical and organic dimensions of the proposal. One of the filters mediates between the paced rhythm of the underground structure and the exuberance of the interior garden and it arises acquiring the form of a huge glass cloth that illuminates both the gallery and the classrooms. The second filter is the long clerestory, a contemporary version of the teatinas from Lima, which links the jacarandas patio to the interior garden, capturing the light and leading it into the depths of MALI’s new art gallery.