HERMITAGE MUSEUM, RUSSIA, ST. PETERSBURG, 2003
General staff building extension for the Hermitage, a former palace in St. Petersburg
The Hermitage is a former palace, used as a museum. With the addition of the general staff building, the Hermitage gained 800 rooms to the existing 1,200. The Hermitage and its surroundings is becoming an urban quarter, incorporating the palace square where the revolution started. OMA proposed an extension project dealing not only with architecture but as well with the distribution of 3.5 million artifacts across 2,000 rooms.
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FACT SHEET

Status:
Study Commission 2003; Completed 2005

Client:
Hermitage Guggenheim Foundation

Site:
Dvortzovaja Square, St. Petersburg

Program:
Redefinition and curatorial strategy strategy of Hermitage Museum
PUBLICATIONS

artnet 04/05
Architectural Record 04/05
Covjek I prostor LII, 07-08/05
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PRESS

"Koolhaas suggests not developing some of the rooms. He asks the question: "Is there a virtue in neglect; does authenticity flourish in what remains untouched?" "

Hans Ulrich Obrist is curator of Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and contributes to TATE etc.

"Koolhaas' scheme pays tribute to the poetic neglect of the area, trying to “create a unique condition: enabling a confrontation with art more direct and more authentic than in more ‘modern’ museums.”

Paul Abelsky, Architectural Record 20/04/05

CREDITS

Partners in charge:
Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf

Team:
Olga Aleksakova, Alexander Sverldov, Gustavo Guimaraes, Felix Madrazo, Todd Reisz with Berrit Bessel, Anya Bokov, Benjamin Clarens, Nanne de Ru, Fernando Donis, Michal Gdak, Jeremy Godenir, Beth Hughes, Olga Krutjak, Alexey Levchuk, Brendan McGetrick, Miho Mazereeuw, Ben Milbourne, Konstantinos Pantazis, Jenss Ramona, Beatriz Ramo, Marianna Rentzou, Shohei Shigematsu, Anastacia Smirnova, Michael Smith, Laurent Troost, Richard Wang, Stephen Wang, Claudia Wolsfeld, Filipe Balestra, Hans Christian Bock, Annalisa Castorri, Ana Dijk, Julius Kranefuss, Stefi Rack, Mendel Robbers
VISIT

Virtual Tour

The State Hermitage
Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya, 34
190000 St Petersburg, Russia
www.hermitagemuseum.org