An international jury headed by the Italian architect Stefano Boeri and the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Pavel Khoroshilov, based on the results of the portfolio competition, identified four bureaus that will develop proposals for the renovation of the famous museum. According to the official website of the Polytechnic Museum, 4 companies reached the final. These are David Chipperfield architects (UK), Studio 44 (Russia) and two teams - Neutelings Reidjik Architecten / Meganom Project (Netherlands / Russia) and ARUP / Naoko Kawamura & Junya Ishigami (Japan).
Note that all these companies, with the possible exception of only the last tandem, already have experience of participation in international architectural competitions held in Russia: Project Meganom won the right to reconstruct the River Station building in Perm; last year, David Chipperfield architects bureau won victory in the competition for the project of reconstruction of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater, Neutelings Reidjik Architecten also participated in the same competition, and Studio 44 recently completed the first stage of the reconstruction of the eastern wing of the General Staff Building. In addition, the workshops of David Chipperfield and Nikita Yavein are currently participating in a competition for a reconstruction project for New Holland, the results of which should be announced within the next month.
The second stage of the competition, during which the finalists will develop concepts for the reconstruction of the Polytechnic Museum, starts on Monday, July 11 and runs until September 5. The designers are faced with the task of reorganizing the museum building, which occupies an entire block between Kitay-Gorod and Lubyanka, restoring its original gallery structure and creating a sense of a complex urban space.
The order to hold a competition for the best concept for the reconstruction of the Polytechnic Museum was prepared by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation on April 28, and the competition itself was announced at the very beginning of summer. Its first stage - an open qualification selection of participants - was held from 6 to 30 June. A total of 25 applications were submitted for the competition, including from a number of Western "star" bureaus. However, as a member of the jury, architecture critic Grigory Revzin, told the press, the experts fundamentally opted not on top stars, but on bureaus with solid experience in museum design, "for which it is fundamentally important to implement this project." According to Revzin, “the experience of attracting stars to Russian projects was unsuccessful, as, for example, happened at the Pushkin Museum. The stars have a lot of orders, and they believe that the country should be interested in implementing their projects. In terms of meaning, this is correct, but in our conditions the projects are greatly distorted."
As reported on the museum's website, contracts with the finalists of the competition for the development of the architectural concept for the reconstruction of the Polytechnic will be concluded in the second half of July. At the same time, the museum will host individual seminars for designers, during which they will get acquainted in more detail with the museum building and the terms of reference, and will also be able to communicate with its employees and attracted experts. The projects prepared by them will be presented to the public at an exhibition to be held at the museum at the end of September. At the same time, the finalists will hold public presentations of their concepts in the Big Auditorium of the Polytechnic. The organizers of the competition promise to name the winner by October 1, 2011.
