La Nube | Snøhetta

With its cloud-like form, twinkling exterior lighting, and 77,000 square feet of imaginative, inclusive learning space, La Nube stands as an awe-inspiring place for residents of the border city to learn about sustainability, regional identity, and the concept of “Blue Sky Learning." Partnering with El Paso architects Exigo and exhibition designers, Gyroscope, we designed a museum that reveals itself as a cloud, floating above the desert, connecting all people — young and old alike.

The museum is positioned within El Paso’s Downtown Arts district, close to the vibrant San Jacinto plaza and less than one kilometer from El Paso del Norte, a major border-crossing station. To the north, the site is bounded by the Union Pacific Railroad, one of two major transcontinental freight lines in the western United States.

The building’s whimsical geometries immediately set it apart in the city’s skyline: the rectilinear base is wrapped in glass, providing interior views to entice passersby to stop inside the public lobby, and is topped by a rippling succession of barrel vaults which soar to a cloud-like crown.

The museum aims to become a civic classroom and energy point for the region’s families, designed to maximize open-ended and imaginative play and exploration. Snøhetta’s design considers how the museum itself can become a learning tool. One of the unique factors of the museum is the STEAM-focused learning experiences with bilingual, non-hierarchical signage in English and Spanish. El Paso is a predominantly Hispanic community, and too often, museums in the U.S. don't place Spanish on equal footing with English, so this was a meaningful touch for the community.