Football Museum / Mauro Munhoz Arquitetura

The Exaltation Room, a space where the structure of the grandstand is off the slope that supports it, puts the visitor in direct contact with the original architecture and the topography that has influenced the design of the neighborhood and the stadium itself. There, the slopes are apparent and the smell of damp earth completes the sensory experience. © Nelson Kon

Curated by ArchDaily

Architects: Mauro Munhoz Arquitetura
Year: 2008
Photographs:Nelson Kon

The project involved the restoration of the front building Pacaembu Stadium, which opened in 1940. © Nelson Kon

Text description provided by the architects. Installed under the north stands of the Municipal Stadium Paulo Machado de Carvalho - the Pacaembu in Sao Paulo - the Football Museum celebrates the sport that became one of the best known Brazilian manifestations. Architecture, exhibition design and curation are integrated to show how football helped form the identity of the country and at the same time, was influenced and enhanced by the national culture. Opened in September 2008, the museum covers an area of 6 900 square meters in front of the Charles Miller Square.

Suspended by steel rods, a wooden walkway installed on the monumental gateway connects the two halves of the route and promotes a dialogue with the external space, Charles Miller Square. © Nelson Kon

History

The relationship between sport and culture is present in the Pacaembu neighborhood since its inception in the early decades of the twentieth century. Barry Parker, the English urban planner hired by Cia City to design the neighborhood along the lines of a garden city, took into account the comments of his French counterpart Joseph Bouvard and suggested that the rebel grotto, unsuitable for occupation with houses, were used to house a stadium, as the valley proportions were so perfect for this - the side slopes seemed tailor-made to house the stands.

Independent activities allocated on the threshold between the Museum building and the square attract new patrons to the site previously underutilized despite its 30 thousand square meters. © Nelson Kon

The Severo Villares design for the stadium of Pacaembu, and respect towards the topography of the land, underlines the tendency of that space for collective use. In front of the stadium, a plot of 30 thousand square meters was reserved for a plaza - which, over the years and due to public policies that value individual transport to the detriment of the team, became a parking lot.

In the entrance hall, is clearly one of the biggest operations of the project: the removal of walls, slabs, beams and columns so that the original structure of the stadium was visible. Thus, the architecture has become an integral part of the museum experience. © Nelson Kon

In proposing the installation of the Football Museum in the building in front of the stadium, facing the square, the architectural design connects the intentions of the urban project at the beginning of the century and redeem their properties for collective use. Distributed on the site of the building, several independent activities of the Museum, such as an auditorium, a bar and a shop, give new meaning to the monumental portico gallery and invite visitors to stay in that space. Thus, the Museum becomes an instrument of regeneration for public space, as it attracts people to it. And this quality would probably not be possible if the appeal were not so directly connected to one of the most powerful Brazilian cultural events, football.

In 2013, within the museum space, the Brazilian Football Reference Center was opened to the public. This area is responsible for stimulating the Football Museum's contents, with a library and media library, the reference center is also a project designed by Mauro Munhoz architecture.