Zaha Hadid Architects are delighted to announce the winning design for a new museum and cultural centre in Vilnius. A six member jury including Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas, Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky and Guggenheim Director Thomas Krens awarded the project to Zaha Hadid Architects at a press conference in Vilnius this morning. The international competition for the project was between Zaha Hadid Architects, Studio Daniel Libeskind and Studio Fuksas.
“I am delighted to be working in Vilnius on the Museum & Cultural Centre” states Hadid. “The city will be the European Capital of Culture in 2009 and has a long history of art patronage. With such an interest in the arts, Vilnius will continue to develop as a cultural centre where the connection between culture and public life is critical. This museum will be a place where you can experiment with the idea of galleries, spatial complexity and movement.”
The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum’s sculptural volume is designed along Zaha Hadid’s characteristic conceptual terms of fluidity, velocity and lightness. The building appears like a mystical floating object that seemingly defies gravity. Curvilinear lines echo the elongated contours of the building, offering an enigmatic presence that contrasts with the vertical skyline of Vilnius’ business district. It is a manifestation of the city’s new cultural significance.
The Museum’s design points towards a future architectural language. It is part of an innovative research trajectory within Zaha Hadid Architects that embraces the latest digital design technology and fabrication methods. This enables a seamless transfer of Hadid’s characteristic acceleration curves and sculpted surface modulations from drawing board to realization.
ARCHITECT: Design Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher Project Architects: Thomas Vietzke and Jens Borstelmann Project Team: Kristof Crolla, Julian Breinersdorfer, Melodie Leung, Claudia Wulf, David Seeland
