homearchitecture Zaha Hadid Wins Design Comp For Guggenheim Hermitage Museum
Zaha Hadid Wins Design Comp For Guggenheim Hermitage Museum
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Zaha Hadid’s
silvery building resembling a sub-surface ferry or a space ship is the
winning entry in the competition for the design of the Guggenheim
Hermitage Museum in the ancient city of Vilnius, capital and the
largest city of the Republic of Lithuania.
Although
Vilnius is one of Europe's smallest capitals, it has a long, strong and
culturally rich history, beautifully reflected in its well-preserved
Old Town with cathedrals dating back to the 12th century. The Pritzker
prize-winning architect Hadid’s futuristic building will be an arts
centre and a museum, housing selected collections of both the New
York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the St. Petersburg- based State Hermitage Museum.
The jury selected Hadid’s (Zaha Hadid Architects) design over those of
equally famous architects Daniel Libeskind (Studio Daniel Libeskind)
and Massimiliano Fuksas (Studio Fuksas).
A feasibility study,
commissioned by the recently established Jonas Mekas Visual Arts
Center in Vilnius, is expected to be completed by mid-June 2008.
Depending on its outcome, the museum could open as early as in 2011. By Tuija Seipell