Rendering for proposed renovation of the Polytechnical Museum, Moscow.
Courtesy junya.ishigami+associates.
Emerging Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has been selected to lead the renovation of Moscow’s Polytechnical Museum, it was announced Oct 14.
Ishigami’s proposal includes expanding the museum’s exhibition space through the construction of a covered garden around its perimeter, minimizing changes to the existing architecture. Established in 1872 after the first All-Russian Technical Exhibition, the museum is housed in a building designed by Ippolit Monighetti, completed in 1877. It is one of the world’s oldest technical museums, and the largest such institution in Russia, with a collection covering historical inventions and technological achievements from the 18th century to the present. However, it has fallen into neglect in recent years, leading Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to personally spearhead a renovation campaign announced in 2010.
With an initial projected budget of 7.6 billion rubles (about 246 million US dollars), this commission is one of Ishigami’s largest projects to date. Having started with the firm of Pritzker Prize-winning duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, SANAA, Ishigami is fresh from winning a Golden Lion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale. Developed together with Arup architectural bureau, his proposal for the Polytechnical Museum was chosen in a vote of nine-to-six over a proposal by the American architect Thomas Leeser.