Museo Banco de México

Towards the end of 2020, the Bank of Mexico decided to open a new interactive museum whose objective was to disseminate and explain to the general public the functions and importance of the Central Bank. The main building of the Bank of Mexico, whose construction dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, was chosen as the site for this new museum. The interactive museum project was entrusted to us both architecturally and museographically, including content development. The architectural and museographic proposals took advantage of the spaces, respecting them, but updating and equipping them with the latest available technologies. The work was carried out in the basement, the ground floor and the mezzanine. On the main staircase there is an evocative video mapping installation of a stained glass window that was designed but never materialized. On the ground floor, there are interactive, playful, visual and sound experiences. Finally, and as the biggest attraction, downstairs in the vault there is an immersive experience that is about trust in the Bank as an institution. In this space, an acoustic treatment was required to eliminate the reverberations derived from the metal walls of this space. A video is projected onto its walls from a set of projectors located on the floor and along the periphery of the vault. The main access was restored respecting the original materials of the space. To facilitate circulation and the view from the street, the aluminum revolving door was replaced by a sliding armored door with a brass finish. Automated turnstiles were also placed to control access to the building and provoke the new circulation of the museum. Before the intervention, the accesses to the banking rooms were narrow and uncomfortable. Consequently, it was decided to remove a section of the bank windows on each side of the permanent rooms, to have a wide and appropriate access for the public. A false floor was installed to house all the installations and thus be able to feed the museum furniture from the floor. As for the ceilings, the installations go up a vertical line that ends in a system of carefully designed installation channels that hide the ductwork and lead to the suspended ceilings. This system facilitates the distribution of the installations, running under the beams of the building in the same color as the museum, blending in and considerably reducing their visual impact. Rectangular floating panels with a multi-perforated PVC membrane house the different devices required by the museum. These ceiling panels serve several purposes: to conceal and distribute the installations, to control acoustic reverberations and to illuminate the space with general light from the perimeters, museographic accent lighting on perimeter rails and in the center the original but restored, decorative lamps of the building. Architecture and museography maintained a constant dialogue; the two disciplines accompanied and intertwined the experience to achieve a rational and balanced project which communicates the importance of the Central Bank's functions in a user-friendly and clear manner.