Top 10 museums inaugurating in 2020- GES-2 by Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Moscow, Russia – Image: courtesy of V-A-C Foundation.
2020 Architecture – This year, Renzo Piano doubles in Moscow and Los Angeles, Bjarke Ingels Group celebrates watchmaking in Switzerland while OMA inaugurates in Western Australia… Check these 10 museums opening in 2020 and make sure to be the right man/woman in the right place at the right time.
Munch Museum by Estudio Herreros
Oslo, Norway.
Munch Museum – Photo by Tove Lauluten.
This spring, 1,150 paintings and more than 18,000 prints by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch move to the brand-new Munch Museum in the Bjørvika water side area in Oslo. With 13 floors and 11 exhibition halls, the 26,000 sq. m building designed by Estudio Herreros is set to be one of the largest single-artist museums in the world. “The vertical museum design connects the public, recreational and commercial spaces from the lobby to the rooftop offering in parallel the discovery of the work of Munch and the different historical strata of the city.” The facades are finished in perforated aluminum with different degrees of transparency to an enigmatic and evanescent perception.
Pinault Collection by Tadao Ando
Paris, France.
Photo by Patrick Tourneboeuf.
In Paris, Japanese architect Tadao Ando has restored the Bourse de Commerce – the city’s former stock exchange – and transformed it into a hotly anticipated museum hosting the collections of French billionaire François Pinault. The building features seven galleries and “a fair-faced concrete cylinder inserted in a neoclassical cylinder” in the grand central hall of the building. Here, a suspended brutalist walkway allows visitor to admire the 19th-century internal façade as well as the frescos and the cupola above.
GES-2 by Renzo Piano
Moscow, Russia.
Courtesy of V-A-C Foundation.
“When thinking about what kind of building would be perfect to create a space for contemporary culture, a power station comes to mind immediately!” Says Italian architect Renzo Piano who has transformed a 1908 power plant into GES-2, a public space for visual and performing arts in Moscow. The enormous 20,000 sq new art centre was commissioned by the V-A-C Foundation by billionaire Leonid Mikhelson on the Red October island near the Kremlin. Artists in the V-A-C collection include Wassily Kandinsky, Gerhard Richter and Christopher Wool. The complex hosts an artist residency block, an amphitheatre, an education centre and a library.
Grand Egyptian Museum by Henegan Peng Architects
Giza-Cairo, Egypt.
King Ramses @ The Grand Egyptian Museum – Photo via IG by @littlebitofhistory.
The long awaited Grand Egyptian Museum by Henegan Peng Architects is scheduled to finally open to the public in 2020. Located at the edge of the first desert plateau between the pyramids and Cairo, the massive museum feature a 24,000 square meter permanent exhibition space hosting also the Tutankhamen collection, a children’s museum, conference centre, conservation centre and gardens. The building’s façade features with a giant triangular pattern and stretches on a 50m level slope, recalling difference in height created by the Nile as it carves its way through the desert. A front surface defined by a veil of translucent stone transforms from day to night.
Sustainability Pavilion by Grimshaw Architects @ Dubai Expo
Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Grimshaw Architects, Sustainability Pavilion.
On October 20, Dubai Expo 2020 will open its doors to the world inviting visitors to explore the theme Connecting Minds, Creating the Future through international pavilions designed by archistars such as Santiago Calatrava, Foster+Partners and more. Among the highlights is the Sustainability Pavilion by Grimshaw Architects which “shows to the world the boundless possibilities and opportunities available to us as we all work together to rebalance the planet’s resources.” Say at Grimshaw Architects to Archipanic. Composed of a series of satellite dish-shaped structures, the pavilion will be a centre for the promotion of innovative technologies and is intended to run on after the Expo.
Museum Piguet by Bjarke Ingels Group
Le Brassus, Switzerland.
Courtesy of BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group.
A double concrete spiral emerges from the Swiss hilly countryside in Bjarke Ingels Group’s architecture for historic watchmaker Audemars Piguet. The partially sunken building offers a glimpse of a series of glazed galleries and event spaces inside. Other spaces host working laboratories of the company’s expert watchmakers. “Watchmaking like architecture is the art and science of invigorating inanimate matter with intelligence and performance,” explained BIG founder Bjarke Ingels. “It is the art of imbuing metals and minerals with energy, movement, intelligence and measure – to bring it to life in the form of telling time.”
Datong Art Museum by Foster+Partners
Datong, China.
Image by Foster+Partners.
Finally, the 32,000 sq.m Museum of the 21st Century by Foster+Partners is expected to be completed in Datong, China. Conceived as an erupted landscape, the entire building is sunk into the ground with only the peaks of the roof visible at ground level. The roof is cladded in earth-toned Corten steel, which will weather naturally over time. Visitors approach via a gentle ramp and stair, which are integrated with the sunken plaza to create an informal amphitheatre. The arrival sequence culminates in a dramatic overview of the Grand Gallery.
New Museum for WA by Hassell + OMA
Perth, Australia.
Opening in November 2020 in the heart of Perth’s Cultural Centre, the New Museum for WA will share the stories of Western Australian people and places as well as act as a gateway to explore the region. The building was constructed by Multiplex and designed by international design practices Hassell + OMA. The soaring spaces, stunning details and metallic finishes reflect the vast and sweeping landscapes of Western Australia and share stories about the State’s mineral heritage.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures by Renzo Piano
Los Angeles, United States.
© Renzo Piano Building Workshop and A.M.P.A.S. – Photo from L’Autre Image.
Scheduled to inaugurate last year, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on the famed Miracle Mile in Los Angeles “will be the world’s premier institution dedicated to the art and science of movies and moviemaking”. The larger portion of the museum designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop will take in the 1930s May Company Building, which is being renovated and upgraded to hold the bulk of exhibition spaces. A new spherical addition will accommodate a 1.000-seat theatre and a dome-covered terrace with views of the Hollywood Hills.
Expansion of Philadelphia Museum of Art by Frank O. Ghery
Philadelphia, United States.
Photo by Tim Tiebout, courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2019.
The next major phase of the Philadelphia Museum of Art‘s redevelopment masterplan, overseen by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank O. Gehry, is due to be unveiled later this year, radically transforming the Neo-Classical building that opened in 1928. “By the end of the core project in 2020, we will bring you 90,000 sq. feet [8,400 sq. m] of new galleries and public spaces,” says the museum’s director, Timothy Rub. Eight galleries will be dedicated to “a more inclusive, expansive story of American art”, according to the museum’s curators.
TOP 10 museums of 2020 – La Bourse de Commerce de Paris/Pinault Collection by Tadao Ando – Photo by Patrick Tourneboeuf.
TOP 10 museums of 2020 – Grand Egyptian Museum. Courtesy of GEM.
TOP 10 museums of 2020 – Grimshaw Architects, Sustainability Pavilion.
