After an initial opening in October, MAAT — the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology — in Lisbon reopens to the public on March 22 with two exhibitions that will show off the entirety of the new museum building.

Designed by the architecture and design studio AL_A, the museum is housed in a brand-new, low-slung structure that joins a recently renovated power station, together making up a greater art campus.

Located on the Tagus river in the neighbourhood of Belém, the MAAT building is designed so that visitors can walk over, under and through it. Inside, it contains four gallery spaces under an undulating roof, while outside, new public spaces have been created both atop the roof and along the water. The facade is made up of nearly 15,000 crackle-glazed tiles that capture the changing light.

MAAT is being completed in phases, and the first phase opened to the public on October 5. With this reopening, the museum will reveal its four galleries, a restaurant and further public spaces; also still to come are a park and a pedestrian bridge linking the campus and waterfront to the city.

Opening March 22 and ending April 24, ‘Utopia/Dystopia: A Paradigm Shift’ is being called a “manifesto exhibition” for the new museum examining how ideas of utopia and dystopia have been represented in art and architecture since the 1970s, and especially in the last five years. More than 60 works will be featured in the large group show, including Archigram, Archizoom, Didier Faustino, Yona Friedman and Aldo Rossi, as well as artists Kader Attia, Cao Fei, Cyprien Gailard and Wolfgang Tillmans.

Running from opening day through April 24 will be a new version of the performance/installation ‘Order and Progress’ by Héctor Zamora, for which the remains of traditional Portuguese fishing boats will occupy MAAT’s Oval Gallery.

Among the museum’s future programming, three exhibitions will open on May 17 to coincide with the second edition of ARCOLisboa.