As a reminder, last week Renzo Piano presented in Moscow a project to transform a historic power plant building on Bolotnaya Embankment into a center of contemporary culture. The customer for the project of the future center was the Victoria - The Art of Being Contemporary (V-A-C) Foundation by Leonid Mikhelson, Chairman of the Board of the Russian gas company OJSC Novatek.
Renzo Piano intends to create a flexible and intuitive layout for the visitor in the new center from three zones - public, educational and exhibition. The public space, according to his plan, consists of an inner square (obviously, this will be typical for Piano Piazza projects), a library, a bookstore, a winter garden, a cafe, a restaurant, and a birch grove. This part of the complex will be open for free access. In the educational part, it is planned to hold classes of the annual Curatorial School of the V-A-C Foundation. There will be educational premises for children's and adult educational programs, art residences and workshops. The exhibition area will include the power plant's turbine hall and other exhibition spaces suitable for projects of various sizes and nature.
An open-air amphitheater will be arranged on two hectares of the territory of HPP-2. The chimneys of HPP-2 will be preserved: thanks to the installation of additional turbines, they will be included in the environmentally friendly ventilation system of the building.
HPP-2 in an updated look and with a new function will open in late 2018 - early 2019.
