Hermitage calls in Koolhaas

AMO, the design and research arm of architect Office For Metropolitan Architecture, has been commissioned to review the strategic positioning and direction of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia.

The Rotterdam-based studio, which is overseen by OMA founder Rem Koolhaas, has been briefed to come up with a ‘visionary masterplan’ for the historic museum, which houses more than 3 million artefacts in its 2000 rooms.

A joint AMO/Hermitage team will begin work to refine the museum’s global agenda, its urban and architectural programming, and its curatorial strategies over the next 12 months.

A joint statement says the team will assess the institution’s ‘global mission, national position and urban situation, as well as its relationship to the city of St Petersburg.’

The ideas will then be tested via the curation of one of the museum’s permanent exhibitions, the design of a temporary exhibition and an urban design project, before the final publication in 2014 of a Hermitage masterplan and an associated exhibition.

Koolhaas will lead the work at AMO, along with project architect Talia Dorsey.

In 2003, AMO worked with The Hermitage on the extension of its general staff building.

Author: Mike Exon

via Design Week