The MUNET (National Museum of Energy and Technology) is one of the most important institutions created in Mexico in the last 50 years. A project by the Federal Government, the building is situated in the heart of Mexico City’s most important park—the Bosque de Chapultepec.

The museum’s mission is to create youth interest in education programs and career opportunities in the energy and technology sectors. By exposing the social history of these technologies, the museum provides a flexible and interactive environment for exploring the possibility of and raising curiosity for future discoveries, inventions, and innovations.

Fernando Romero’s design draws inspiration from the forms of manifested energy—from the macro-scale of galaxies and solar systems all the way down to the micro-scale of atoms, neutrons, and protons. Movements of energy are crystallized through an architecture of continuous, centrifugal lines that extend from the building toward the landscape. Lines of energy converge within the interior void of the building to highlight one of the building’s signature experiences—a floating sphere that is lifted by magnetic force. This central void has flexible programming and becomes the focal point of the site and the geometric origin of the design.

Designed to be net-zero energy, the building embodies its mission of innovation in sustainable construction techniques and building operations. The architecture educates by exposing its technical systems. The museum is a statement of how to create civic architecture that is environmentally sensitive and a progressive development within the country.