MUDE — Attraction in Lisbon

Block wide museum in a palimpsest building encompassing layers from the 18c pombaline period, the 19c, the 20c and now, in a recent post industrial renewal, a 21c final layer. The museum has just opened and has a permanent collection of 20-21c design (focused on furniture) and fashion pieces. The museum is worth visiting for its collection bust also for its architecture and the different layers of history it allows a peak of. At the time of my visit, the exhibition was focused on the construction process and architectural documents, and original furniture from the Bank period of the building. On the underground floor one can visit the old vaults, which was very intriguing. And the terrace allows unique views of the Baixa.

The actual MUDE building, today occupying the whole city block, results from the agglutination of the different mixed used buildings of this otherwise conventional 18c pombaline urban fabric, in order to install the National Overseas Bank (BNU) in the 19c (by Arch. Tertuliano Marques). The project opened a big octogonal covered courtyard (which is still visible today), around which the working spaces unfolded. The mid 20c another big transformation happened (by Arch. Cristino da Silva), with the opening of the actual Rua Augusta entrance, which seamlessly combines modernist sculpture, the desired monumentality and the pombaline aesthetics; the octogonal courtyard was closed off, increasing office space; and a major indoor refurbishment of which the modernist, monumental, continuous stone counter is the most spectacular, but also several modernist murals. Interestingly, the administration offices follow a "classic" style instead, with woods and blue and white tiles. Other more recent projects and furniture refurbishments were added to the building, namely the small auditorium and associated cafeteria. By the late 20c, Baixa had ceased to be the financial and business heart of the city, and offices were moving to the better accessible Avenidas Novas. With the end of the empire (1999) the bank was absorbed by the CGD bank and a purpose for the building was only defined in the first decade of the 21c when it was designated by the city hall to house the future Museum of Design and Fashion. The recent renewal allows on to peek into thw different layers of construction, in a post industrial / recycling aesthetics. It works well in this building as it has such an interesting and unconventional history of transformations.

The museum is paid. Wheelchair accessibility is good. There is no car parking inside, and the best parking is in one of the nearby paid garages in Martim Moniz or Chiado. It is more convenient to take public transport...

MUDE (Lisbon Design and Fashion Museum) is a home for all design forms. A space where people can meet and consider design, do research into its artefacts, developing an editorial policy, a temporary programme and educational activity. But it is also a space for experimentation and creation, for presenting the proposals of new creators, encouraging new research and creating dialogues with the visual arts and architecture, the cinema and dance, music and science.

the museum is conceived as a dynamic, experimental, open and innovative project that local and foreign visitors can follow. A major boost for the reinvention of downtown Lisbon, an active force pulsing through the city’s main artery, in the heart of the Baixa Pombalina, contributing to its long awaited and very necessary urban redevelopment work, as well as towards the culture of creativity and innovation that is increasingly characterising our cities. We are talking about a museum that is generating a network with cultural institutions, universities, companies, studios and shops, museums, involving the community of designers, artists, architects and curators in the development of a new urban cultural centre.

That is why we gave the name MUDE, which means ‘change’ in Portuguese, highlighting the museum’s wish to redesign the concept of a design museum and searching for new forms of management, communication and urban...

Disappointing. I was very excited to see the Vivienne Westwood exhibit, and was left deluded by the meager selection present (a third of the clothes present weren't even Westwood). Me and my friends went on to explore the rest of the museum, but had to ask for direction two different times because the signs were scarce and confusing and nowhere was it mentioned, for example, that floor 2 had no exhibitions (or that floor 3 can only be accessed by stairs or by taking the elevator at the entrance, which we were not entirely sure was open to the public). The building itself was pretty and the exhibitions were pleasing to the eye, but the plaques were not particularly relevant and it was maddening to try to orient oneself: at one point on the sixth floor we saw a set of doors that said "balcony". We tried to open them, only to be told by a staff member that we should have gone through the doors that were marked for the "restaurant". Which might seem counterintuitive (and it is!), but to be fair the restaurant was not open (not that we were told before). Overall, I felt a little insulted to have paid €7,50 for this visit, and I would have been enraged to pay the full €15. Maybe a skip until it gets reworked into something more efficient and adds something to...