2015
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art - Moscow - Russia
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow is a renovation of the 1960s Vremena Goda restaurant, a prefabricated concrete pavilion in Gorky Park that had remained derelict since the early 1990s.
Exposed to the weather (sun, snow, rain), it had become a ruin without facades. Even as a ruin, it preserved the “collective” aura of the Soviet era: a sober public space adorned with tiles, mosaic and brickwork. The design preserves all these original elements, while incorporating a range of innovative architectural and curatorial devices. The project for 5.400 m2 building includes exhibition galleries on two levels, a creative centre for children, offices, bookshop, cafe (with Soviet-era furniture), auditorium and roof terrace. The museum programs occupy three level, adapting to the spatial and structural possibilities of the existing structure.
The building offers some innovative possibilities for the exhibition of art, such as hinged white walls that can be folded down from the ceiling, providing a “white cube” when an exhibition demands a more neutral environment. The existing concrete structure is enclosed in a new translucent double-layer polycarbonate facade that accommodates a large portion of the building’s ventilation equipment, allowing the exhibition spaces to remain free.
The two main entrances to Garage Museum are marked by two large facade panels that slide upwards to frame the art in the lobby’s double height space and provide a view through the building from the park. Furthermore they work as a projection screen and can also be illuminated strategically to reveal activities taking place inside.
[project selected by Guido Vandelli]