REM KOOLHAAS’ OMA TO DESIGN NEW HOME FOR GARAGE IN MOSCOW
Garage Center for Contemporary Culture unveiled concepts for a new building in
Gorky Park, designed by Rem Koolhaas’ OMA.
Garage Gorky Park - due to be completed in 2013 - will be a
renovation of the famous 1960s Vremena Goda (Seasons of the Year) restaurant, a
prefabricated concrete structure that has been derelict for more than two
decades. OMA’s design for the 5,400 square meter building includes exhibition
galleries on two levels, creative center for children, shop, café, auditorium
and offices. The design preserves original soviet-era elements – including a
large mosaic, and decorative tiles and brick – while incorporating a range of
innovative architectural and curatorial devices. OMA is collaborating on the
project with the young Russian practice Form Bureau.
Garage Gorky Park_overview
(c) Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)
Courtesy OMA
Rem Koolhaas commented, “We are very happy to work on turning the almost-ruin
of Vermena Goda into the new house for Garage. We were able, with our client
and her team, to explore the qualities of generosity, dimension, openness, and
transparency of the Soviet wreckage and find new uses and interpretations for
them.”
Dasha Zhukova said, “Our move to Gorky Park marks an exciting new phase in
Garage’s development. I am delighted that we have one of the world’s leading
architects, Rem Koolhaas’ OMA, working on the project, and I am sure their
plans will attract a new generation of visitors to Garage.”
Garage Gorky Park_'conventional' gallery
(c) Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)
Courtesy OMA
Garage, founded by Dasha Zhukova in 2008, is a major non-profit arts project
based in Moscow, dedicated to exploring and developing contemporary culture. At
the beginning of this year, Garage moved from its original home in the
Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage to Gorky Park in Moscow. Garage aims to bring important
international modern and contemporary art to Moscow, to raise the profile of
Russian contemporary culture internationally and encourage a new generation of
Russian artists. It also organizes and supports a wide range of cultural
projects internationally.
The Stalin-era Gorky Park was planned in the 1920s by renowned soviet
Constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov, who also designed Garage’s
previous home, the Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage. Opened in 1928, Gorky Park extends
300 acres along the Moskva River in the heart of Moscow. The park is undergoing
a major renovation and regeneration project, of which Garage Gorky Park is a
major part.
Co-founded by Rem Koolhaas in 1975, OMA is a leading international office
practicing architecture, urbanism and cultural analysis. Dedicated for over
thirty years to the design and realization of buildings and masterplans, OMA is
led by seven partners – Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei
Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, David Gianotten and Managing Partner Victor van der
Chijs - and sustains an international practice with offices in Rotterdam, New
York, Beijing, Hong Kong and soon Doha. The work of Rem Koolhaas and OMA has
won several international awards, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in
2000 and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2010 Venice
Biennale
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