SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process

designed as an extension of the landscape, 'estratos vivos' arranges galleries around planted courtyards, shaded terraces, and circular volumes.

thomai tsimpou July 22, 2026 4 min

SANAA-led team selected for Ecuador’s National Museum

Ecuador announces Estratos Vivos as the winning proposal for the new National Museum of Ecuador (MuNA), selecting the scheme by SANAA, Estudio A0, Caá Porá Arquitectura, and Jerome Haferd Studio following a revised evaluation process. The decision concludes an international competition whose original result was overturned after public criticism, reshaping the selection of one of the country’s most significant cultural projects.

Estratos Vivos imagines the museum as an extension of the landscape. A series of softly stacked circular volumes rise from the site, their planted terraces and open courtyards creating a building that appears to grow outward and upward. The composition replaces the image of a monumental civic institution with a sequence of public spaces that visitors can gradually explore.

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 1 — all images via @caaporarq

Circular terraces organize Estratos Vivos

The winning proposal organizes exhibition galleries around circular patios that introduce daylight and allow visual connection between levels. Ramps, terraces, and open-air share fluid routes through the museum, framing views toward Quito and the slopes of the Pichincha volcano. In this continuous spatial experience, indoor galleries alternate with gardens and shaded gathering spaces, allowing visitors to move between art and the city.

The architects draw on the layered geography and cultural diversity of the country. The architects describe the museum as a collection of ‘living strata,’ borrowing from Ecuador’s mountains, forests, coastline, and archaeological landscapes to shape the building as a series of interconnected environments. Developed with the participation of Indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, and mestizo advisors, the proposal presents the museum as a place where multiple histories and perspectives can exist in parallel rather than converge into a single narrative.

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 2 — the museum’s stepped circular volumes rise above a transparent ground floor

From jury selection to public vote

The announcement follows an unusual turn in the competition. In early July, an international jury unanimously selected a proposal by Alberto Campo Baeza and MAODA as the winner. The decision, however, was met with criticism from architects, academics, and members of the public, who questioned both the outcome and whether the project reflected Ecuador’s cultural identity. An online petition calling for the result to be reconsidered gathered thousands of signatures, prompting Ecuador’s Ministry of Education to suspend the original decision. A newly appointed jury shortlisted three proposals, by SANAA + A0-CPA-JHS, B720 Arquitectura + LERA, and Mario Cucinella Architects, which were then put to a nationwide public vote, with the final result combining jury scores and citizen voting.

Under the revised system, Estratos Vivos received the highest combined score, officially replacing the original winning proposal. While architecture competitions are typically decided solely by expert juries, the MuNA competition evolved into a broader public discussion about the role citizens should play in shaping national cultural institutions. With the selection now finalized, SANAA and its collaborators move forward with the design of a museum intended to house more than 1.2 million cultural objects and become Ecuador’s principal repository of its historical and artistic heritage.

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 3 — native planting extends across the museum’s terraces and surrounding public spaces

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 4 — curved brick walls enclose a circular courtyard that brings light and air into the building’s interior

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 5 — a shaded ground level opens the building to surrounding gardens and public gathering spaces

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 6 — circular planted courtyard brings daylight and vegetation into the center of the museum

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 7 — transparent enclosures and landscaped patios

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 8 — suspended ceramic and earthen elements define one of the museum’s interior courtyards

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 9 — timber screening filters daylight while framing views across the city from the upper galleries

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 10 — exhibition spaces are connected through open circulation areas illuminated by filtered natural light

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 11 — galleries unfold around circular display spaces and double-height exhibition halls

SANAA-led team wins ecuador national museum competition after revised selection process - 12 — brick-clad circular volumes rise in stepped layers

sanaa-team-ecuador-national-museum-muna-competition-revised-selection-process-estudioa0-caaporarq-jeromehaferdstudio-designboom-large01 — a perforated brick facade wraps the museum’s stacked circular volumes, filtering light from within

project info:

name: Estratos Vivos – National Museum of Ecuador (MuNA)

architects: SANAA | @sanaa_jimusho (Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa)

location: Quito, Ecuador

collaborators: Estudio A0 | @a0.estudio, Caá Porá Arquitectura | @caaporarq, Jerome Haferd Studio | @jeromehaferdstudio