Medialab Prado as a citizen laboratory in the technocultural, urban and architectural context
Abstract
Medialab Prado was an international reference institution dedicated to the democratisation of technoculture. Instead of adopting a traditional exhibition model, it promoted cultural production as an open and permeable process. This article explores the elements that made this space unique, underlining the importance of the relationship between its architecture, spatial management and citizen laboratories. Starting with a brief history of its origin, it delves into the evolution of the laboratory concept to the citizen laboratory model, analysing its technocultural, urban and architectural context. Furthermore, its spatial properties are explored in dialogue with the ideas of an ‘open city’ proposed by Richard Sennett (2019) in Building and living: Ethics for the city, concluding with the key learnings that emerge from this emblematic case.
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