CaixaForum Madrid

CaixaForum Madrid is a cultural centre on the Paseo del Prado that the La Caixa foundation opened in 2008 inside a former 1899 power station. The Basel architects Herzog and de Meuron handled the conversion, lifting the entire brick body off its plinth and balancing it on a steel base so it appears to float. The rust-coloured Corten steel attic and the 24-metre vertical garden by the botanist Patrick Blanc on the northern flank made the building an instant icon of Madrid's museum mile. Inside three or four rotating exhibitions cover classical modernism, photography and non-Western cultures, supplemented by an auditorium and a top-floor restaurant. Admission is free for Caixa bank cardholders and about 6 euros otherwise. A natural stop between the Reina Sofia and the Prado.