The mission of the ICO Foundation in Madrid is to contribute to the development of society by way of dissemination of knowledge, having an international focus and based on two premises: sustainable economics and finance, on the one hand, and sustainable art and architecture, on the other.

The museum, part of the Foundation, was founded in 1996, is dedicated to promoting architecture and urban planning as artistic disciplines. Since 2012 it has been developing exhibitions that celebrate important architects, schools, and trends of contemporary architecture, and on the role of architecture in for sustainable cities and communities, climate action, health and well-being, and architecture and urban planning from the perspective of photography. Since June 2016, the ICO Collections have been part of the Digital Network of Spanish Museum Collections (CER.ES), an online catalog that brings together information and images of a significant selection of the cultural assets that make up the collections of all the member museums.