The architects will present seven versions of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art

May 31, 2016

Set to become a cultural and arts centre of interregional as well as national significance, the forthcoming Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art benefits from a strategic site in the centre of Riga, the capital of Latvia. Its unique collection will span art and visual culture in Latvia and the Baltic Sea region from the 1960s to the present day.

The new €30 million museum building is a private and public collaboration, funded by the Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation and the ABLV Charitable Foundation, the initiative is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia.

In 2015 the Foundation commissioned a high-profile invited design competition from leading competition specialists, Malcolm Reading Consultants, to identify the best architectural talent available for the project. Twenty-five international practices were asked to participate in the first stage of the competition.

LMCA design competition involves a two-stage evaluation system. The jury of the competition will evaluate the submitted proposals taking into consideration the report of the Latvian and foreign countries experts on architecture quality of the suggested projects, their compliancy with the conception of the museum, integration in the urban environment, functionality and costs.

The competition jury, chaired by David Bickle, Director of Design, Exhibitions and FuturePlan at London’s V&A museum, will meet on June 6 and 7, and the winner announcement is scheduled for mid-June.

Other members of the jury include, Uldis Balodis, Architect, representing the Ministry of Culture; Gianni Botsford, Director & Head of Design, Gianni Botsford Architects; Jānis Dripe, Architect, representing the Ministry of Culture; Reinier de Graaf, Partner, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), and Director of AMO (OMA’s think-tank); Luke Jerram, Visual artist and director of Luke Jerram Ltd; Ieva Valtere, Executive Director, Pillar Management, SIA; Elīna Vikmane, Board Member, Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation. Malcolm Reading, Competition Director, will advise the jury.

Timings for the event are as below:

10:00 – 11:00 Open House (Design Proposals accessible to the public)
11:00 – 11:30 Welcome (LMCAF and MRC)
11:30 – 12:00 Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects (Finland) and MADE arhitekti (Latvia)
12:00 – 12:30 Henning Larsen Architects (Denmark) and MARK arhitekti (Latvia)
12:30 – 13:00 Neutelings Riedijk Architects (Netherlands) and Brigita Bula arhitekte (Latvia)
13:00 – 13:30 Sauerbruch Hutton (Germany) and Arhitekts Ingurds Lazdiņš (Latvia)
13:30 – 14:00 Break
14:00 – 14:30 wHY (US), OUTOFBOX Architecture and ALPS (Latvia)
14:30 – 15:00 Caruso St John Architects (UK) and Arhitektu birojs Jaunromāns un Ābele (Latvia)

INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHORTLISTED PRACTICES:

Adjaye Associates (UK) un AB3D (Latvia)

Adjaye Associates
Adjaye Associates was established in June 2000 by founder and principal architect, David Adjaye OBE. Receiving ever-increasing worldwide attention, Adjaye Associates believes that architecture presents opportunities for transformation – materially, conceptually and sociologically. Driven by the desire to enrich and improve daily life, the practice’s buildings are designed to meet the diverse needs of the communities they serve. Inspiration is drawn from many influences around the world and their work clearly articulates this enthusiasm for issues of place and identity.

Adjaye Associates has designed a number of museums and cultural buildings, which are unified by their shared sense of civic presence and strong social resonance. These are qualities that are at the heart of the practice’s work. As a civic building, the role of the museum is increasingly not only to exhibit the collection, but to provide access to a collective consciousness while offering the chance for dialogue between different generations and social groupings. The interpretation of identity, history and memory in Adjaye Associates’ buildings is rooted in research. The starting point is always to gain an understanding of exactly these qualities and to use them as the essential drivers for the form and the materiality of the building.

Key Relevant Projects: Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Colorado, USA. Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington D.C., USA. Other Notable Projects: Studio Museum Harlem, New York, USA, Marian Goodman Gallery, London, UK. Selected Awards: Building Design International Breakthrough Architect of the Year, 2013; RIBA International Award, 2013. For further information: www.adjaye.com

AB3D
In the LMCA design competition Adjaye Associates the Latvian partner is an architectural bureau AB3D founded by an architect Juris Mitenbergs. In architecture, the architectural bureau tends to revitalize emotions using simple shapes - rectangle, rectangular parallelepiped or the provided opportunities of their layout. Several projects of AB3D have received high evaluations in Latvia as well as in the world – in 2015 Rezekne University Faculty of Engineering Studies Corps obtained the annual award of the Latvian Architecture and THE PLAN AWARD recognition in the category of education buildings. Whereas the residential house complex Čiekurkrasti designed by the architectural bureau has obtained an award-winning place in the international architecture contest Architizer A+Awards. For further information: www.ab3d.lv

Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects (Finland) un MADE arhitekti (Latvia)

Architects Lahdelma & Mahlamäki
The owners and co-founders of Architects Lahdelma & Mahlamäki are Professor Ilmari Lahdelma and Professor Rainer Mahlamäki. Since their first success in an open national design competition in 1986, they have received 37 first prizes and 57 other prizes nationally and internationally, in both open and invited-only design competitions. Today, the practice employs around 30 designers and architects and is one of the most famous architecture practices in Scandinavia.

The main focus of Architects Lahdelma & Mahlamäki is in demanding public buildings. The practice adheres to a school of thought which sees buildings not as objects, but as part of their environment. The form, dimensions and materials must always be reinvented anew with each unique context. In the course of designing and completing their museum and exhibition buildings, they have observed how important the architecture of a built form itself is besides the content of the museum hosted.

An essential part of their design philosophy is to study, analyse and develop the program of the project together with the client and the end users. They do not accept contradictions between “architecture and function”; these elements should be in harmony.

Key Relevant Projects: The Centre of Folk Art, Kaustinen, Finland; Maritime Centre Vellamo, Kotka, Finland. Other Notable Projects: Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland; Finnish Forest Museum and Information Centre, Punkaharju, Finland. Selected Awards: European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, shortlisted 2008, 2015; SARP Best Building, 2013 and Best Building Funded by the State, 2013. For further information: www.ark-l-m.fi

MADE arhitekti
Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects the Latvian partner is an architectural bureau MADE arhitekti established by Miķeļis Putrāms and Linda Krūmiņa in 2007. The architectural bureau has received recognition in design competitions in Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Switzerland and Slovenia. MADE arhitekti project has been selected as the best in the design competition as the Latvian pavilion at the exhibition Expo Milano 2015, Saldus Music and Art school project in 2012 has received an annual award of the Union of the Latvian Architects whereas in the reconstruction design contest of the New Riga Theatre the teamwork of MADE architects and bureau GAISS got the second place. For further information: www.made.lv 

Caruso St John Architects (UK) un Arhitektu birojs Jaunromāns un Ābele (Latvia)

Caruso St John Architects
Since its foundation in 1990, Caruso St John has pursued an architecture that is rooted in place. Following the practice’s rise to prominence with the winning of the international competition for the acclaimed New Art Gallery Walsall, its engagement with the art world has been notable for the creation of museum and gallery environments that enjoy the confidence of artists.

The practice is known for its willingness to negotiate the delicate intricacies of art institutions on an equal and genuinely collaborative footing. The span of their practice in the design of museums, galleries and exhibitions, especially in London, has seen a growing public interest in contemporary art, alongside a wider confidence in the way people use public space.

Caruso St John’s work is enriched by an ongoing dialogue with the European city and with history – that of architecture, art, and culture more widely – traditions that bring an accumulated richness of expression to the work. Ideas are elaborated in a manner akin to art practices that engage directly with the built environment and embrace the ‘found’ space. Caruso St John intervenes in sites carefully, valuing the humble and everyday as well as the more celebrated products of the architectural canon.

Key Relevant Projects: Newport Street Gallery, London, UK; Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK. Other Notable Projects: New Art Gallery Walsall, West Midlands, UK; Tate Britain Millbank Project, London, UK. Selected Awards: RIBA Stirling Prize Finalist, 2000, 2006; RIBA London Building of the Year, 2006, 2011. For further information: www.carusostjohn.com

Arhitektu birojs Jaunromāns un Ābele
Caruso St John Architects the Latvian partner is Arhitektu birojs Jaunromāns un Ābele. The projects of the bureau are well estimated in Latvia and in international competitions – this year the project of rebuilding of Dzintari concert hall has obtained an annual Latvian Architecture award, an annual award of the Latvian construction in the nomination of reconstruction, second place in the Latvian Construction annual award in the nomination of restoration and third place in the exposition The best building of the year in Latvia in the nomination Rebuilding. The Skārņu iela building designed by the architectural bureau has received the Latvian Architecture annual award 2015 and a prize in the Sixth Minsk international biennale of the young architects. For further information: www.jaunromansabele.lv

Henning Larsen Architects (Denmark) un MARK arhitekti (Latvia)

Henning Larsen Architects
Henning Larsen Architects is a global design practice with a Scandinavian ethos. Their foundations are rooted in democracy, welfare, and social responsibility, and their approach to design goes beyond the physical and visual impact of a project: their goal is to create vibrant, sustainable buildings that reach beyond themselves and become of lasting value to the people and society for which they are built.

They shape, challenge and change the physical environment at every scale, with the overall objective of providing the user with visionary, comprehensive, and sustainable design. Henning Larsen Architects’ broad portfolio features significant cultural venues, learning facilities, headquarters, and urban designs.

Headquartered in Copenhagen, and with six offices worldwide, Henning Larsen Architects has invested in projects and people globally. Whether designing masterplans, urban plazas, buildings, interiors, or objects, their focus is on the human scale and interactions. It is within this Danish design tradition that they complement their architectural services: in addition to design and technical architects, they have in-house urban designers, landscape architects, sustainability specialists, interior designers, graphic designers, and product designers. Thus, they offer their clients the best foundation for an integrated, comprehensive, and consistent result, from the urban scale, to the details.

Key Relevant Projects: Moesgaard Museum, Aarhus, Denmark; Art Museum at Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. Other Notable Projects: Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre, Reykjavik, Iceland; Ny Carlsberg Glytotek, Copenhagen, Denmark. Selected Awards: European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, 2013; Civic Trust Award, 2015, 2011. For further information: www.henninglarsen.com

MARK arhitekti
Henning Larsen Architects the Latvian partner in the design competition is MARK arhitekti founded in 2006. The architectural bureau’s project of the building at Piedrujas Street, Riga, last year acquired a recognition in the contest Annual award in Riga architecture. In co-operation with Silver Architecture and design bureau H2E the designed Riga Castle Kastela (Convent) restoration and reconstruction project got the highest evaluation in 2014. Also MARK arhitekti project has acquired the first place in several other design competitions – creation of the Latvian University Natural Sciences academic centre complex (in co-operation with Mailītis A.I.I.M., Dina Suhanova and Ints Menģelis), reconstruction of the Sauleskalns open-air stage complex in Talsi, Talsi Creative fencing – creation of the culture house, music school, centre of further education and others. For further information: mark.lv 

Neutelings Riedijk Architects (Netherlands) un Brigita Bula arhitekte (Latvija)

Neutelings Riedijk Architects
Willem Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedijk founded Neutelings Riedijk Architects 25 years ago in Rotterdam. The office offers a strong commitment to design excellence, realising high quality architecture by developing powerful and innovative concepts into clear built form.

Neutelings Riedijk Architects has established itself internationally as a leading practice specialising in the design and realisation of complex projects for public and cultural buildings, such as museums, theatres, concert halls and libraries. The practice has a wide experience in balancing the complex functions and logistics of these projects with their often delicate urban contexts to give them an iconic significance that makes them successful public buildings in the city; at a time when fewer and fewer buildings radiate a collective expression, contemporary museums can become bearers of a strong expression that generates a local identity for the community.

For every project, they make a specific volumetric and materialisation, contributing to the collective pride and identity of the local community as well as to the global recognition of the place. The practice believes great architecture can only be created through dialogue, and their design philosophy is based upon clear communication and close collaboration between client, users and architect.

Key Relevant Projects: Museum of the City of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; National Museum of Sound and Vision, Hilversum, The Netherlands. Other Notable Projects: ‘Eemhuis’ Museum and Library, Amersfoort, The Netherlands; ‘Rozet’ Museum and Library, Arnhem, The Netherlands. Selected Awards: European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award nominations 2015, 2011, 2009; Best New Dutch Building, 2014. For further information: www.neutelings-riedijk.com

Brigita Bula arhitekte
Neutelings Riedijk Architects the Latvian partner is an architectural bureau Brigita Bula arhitekte. The architect works thoroughly and at a small scale creating a residential environment, offices, shops and cafes interiors, as well as designs of exhibitions. The holiday house designed by Brigita Bula, Lapiņas Kaltenē, in 2012, received the Latvian Architecture award. For further information: bula.lv

Sauerbruch Hutton (Germany) un Arhitekts Ingurds Lazdiņš (Latvia)

Sauerbruch Hutton
Sauerbruch Hutton is an international agency for architecture, urbanism and design, founded in 1989 by Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch in London, relocating to Berlin in 1992. Their work is recognised internationally for its long-term expertise with, and serious engagement in, sustainability in architecture and urbanism.

The practice has benefitted from some twenty-five years of the founding partners’ academic research at various universities into fields such as the situation of the post-industrial city as well as the new paradigms of ecological urbanism and sustainable architecture. Sauerbruch Hutton’s ambition is to create innovative buildings that enrich public life, and that respect and expand on local character while retaining their clear and distinguished physical presence in the city; they see the museum as an island of particularity in the sea of the everyday.

They consider designing and building to be a process of dialogue, of research and of creation in an interdisciplinary team of architectural and various technical and artistic disciplines, and particularly with the client and their stakeholders. Through every stage of the design process, they take care to coordinate results from the scientific and analytical work into the overarching urban, architectural and spatial-material concept of each specific project.

Key Relevant Projects: Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany; M9 Museum District, Venice/Mestre, Italy. Other Notable Projects: Immanuel Church, Cologne, Germany; Artist’s studio for Karin Sander, Berlin, Germany. Selected Awards: German Architecture Award, 2015; IBA Excellence Award, International Building Exhibition, 2013. For further information: sauerbruchhutton.de

Arhitekts Ingurds Lazdiņš
Sauerbruch Hutton the Latvian partner is Arhitekts Ingurds Lazdiņš. The founder of the office possessing more than 20-year work experience is an architect Ingurds Lazdiņš. In the Architects office portfolio there are several projects in Riga – the office complex OSTAS SKATI, shopping, office and residential building at Elizabetes Street Tal Residence, RVLTRC communication mast at Ērgļu Street and others. OSTAS SKATI in 2007 acquired the Union of the Latvian Architects award as the Best public building, a year after which the office complex is evaluated as the best new building in Riga (the Annual Award of the Riga Dome). For further information: ingurds-lazdins.com

wHY (US) and OUTOFBOX Architecture & ALPS (Latvia)

wHY
wHY designs forward-thinking spaces for culture and education, furthering indoor and outdoor relationships and experiences that connect people to art and art to nature. Based in Los Angeles and New York City, the 25-person practice was founded by Kulapat Yantrasast in 2004 and is led by four directors. Over the past decade, wHY has delivered exceptional buildings with sustainability, flexibility and innovation built into their designs.

The practice focuses on the process as much as the product to have the greatest impact in a particular place. Their projects aim to bridge the gap between architecture and people. wHY structure their practice as ‘ecology of disciplines,’ enabling them to best engage clients and communities with the full array of ideas and thinking tools.

Working with ambitious institutions to meet current and future needs, wHY understands the changing roles of museums and art buildings, especially how to position them for obtaining relevancy in their specific contexts by engaging the community way beyond passively looking at art. They design museums as social activity hub, a cultural nucleus as well as an open public space where qualities of life and identity of a city are explored, experienced and expanded.

Key Relevant Projects: Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan, USA; Speed Art Museum, Kentucky, USA. Other Notable Projects: Pomona College Studio Art Hall, California, USA; Harvard Art Museums galleries, Massachusetts, USA. Selected Awards: Silpathron Award for Design, Ministry of Culture, Thailand, 2009; American Institute of Steel Construction IDEAS2 Merit Award, 2015. For further information: www.why-site.com

OUTOFBOX Architecture
WHY Latvian partners in the Museum of Contemporary Art design competition is an architectural bureau OUTOFBOX Architecture and ALPS. The architectural bureau INDIA (since 2010 OUTOFBOX Architecture) was founded in 2004 . The project of the architectural bureau Riga Multimodal Terminal is a part of the Baltic pavilion in the biennale of the exhibition of the Venice Architecture. For further information: outofbox.lv

ALPS
Landscape design workshop ALPS was founded in 2005 by Helena Gutmane. Two of the workshop projects are nominated this year to the Latvian Architecture annual award in the nomination of Environmental objects – Riga Psychiatry and addiction centre entrance node greenery reconstruction and Rujiena culture house territory utilities reconstruction.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art
With the objective of founding the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art, the ABLV Charitable Foundation and the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation have founded the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation. Drawing on the founders’ funds and other financing from private individuals and in partnership with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the Foundation’s goal is to build the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art, ensure the museum’s operation and governance, including the formation, maintenance and researching of the museum’s collection of contemporary art.

Believing that private initiative is of great importance to the development of society, the founders of the new foundation hope that this step will provide a powerful boost to the development of contemporary arts processes in Latvia, encouraging the formation of an integrated cultural space and making Riga a well-known and distinctive tourism destination.

On 30 October 2014, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation signed a memorandum of intent regarding the building and development of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art. It was signed on the basis of the successful long-term collaboration between the Ministry of Culture, the ABLV Charitable Foundation and the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation, as notable benefactors in the realm of Latvian contemporary art, and ABLV Bank as the principal supporter of the formation of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s collection.

The memorandum of intent envisages that the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art will be located within the territory of the business and leisure centre New Hanza City (NHC). NHC is being developed across an area of 24.5 hectares in the location of the former Riga railway goods station, in the quarter between Hanzas iela, Pulkveža Brieža iela, Skanstes iela and Sporta iela. The museum will be adjoined by a number of office buildings, including the headquarters of ABLV Bank, a hotel, conference centre, exclusive apartment district, a pre-school educational facility, as well as an urban garden with spacious and verdant grounds for recreation at the heart of the territory. It is agreed that the Foundation’s founders will provide financing in the amount of at least €30 million for the development of the museum.

The Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation plans to open the museum building on 18 November 2021. After it enters service, the museum’s operations will be organised in accordance with the Republic of Latvia’s Museums Law, so that in conformity with the operating principles of a private accredited museum, the museum will be accessible to the general public and its collection will be included in the National Museum Collection Catalogue.

The Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation
In 2010, the philanthropists Boris and Ināra Teterev founded a family charitable foundation to encourage the development of culture, art and higher education, as well as to provide support in the social realm to community development organisations and animal welfare initiatives. The results of projects supported by the Foundation have touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of members of Latvia’s population, as well as the inhabitants of 10 other countries in almost every continent of the world. For more information, please visit: www.teterevufonds.lv

Boris and Ināra Teterev’s TÊTE-À-TÊTE arts programme is one of the ways in which the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation encourages the development and facilitates the accessibility of culture and art in Latvia. The programme was launched in 2013, offering the general public contemporary cultural and arts events on a European scale, whose execution in Latvia would be unfeasible without the Foundation’s support. For more information, please visit: www.tat.lv

In turn, permanent contemporary art objects in the urban environment are created under the auspices of the Foundation’s art programme “Art in Public Space”. The programme’s leitmotif is THE JOY OF THOUGHT, accenting the pleasant surprises, paradoxes, global spirit and thinking that contemporary art can bring to the urban environment. For more information, please visit: www.artinpublicspace.lv

ABLV Charitable Foundation
In signing its collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia in 2005, ABLV Bank became the most significant supporter of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art project, allocating €1.422,872 million for the formation of the museum’s collection by the year 2021. Currently, the bank’s funds have been used to acquire works worth €720,000 for the museum’s collection.

Founded in 2006 by ABLV Bank’s biggest shareholders Ernests Bernis and Oļegs Fiļs, ABLV Charitable Foundation’s operating goal is to encourage the corporate sector and society as a whole to take responsibility for their fellow citizens and the environment. The Foundation primarily focuses on supporting contemporary art, children and adolescents, education and the upgrading of the urban environment. The ABLV Charitable Foundation will soon be able to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its founding, in the intervening period having become one of the biggest and most effective charitable foundations in Latvia. To date, it has attracted €4.3 million in donations and gifts, mainly from ABLV Bank, its employees, clients and business partners, and has successfully implemented about 270 projects, allocating them funding in the region of €2 million.

In wishing to offer particular support to contemporary art in Latvia, the ABLV Charitable Foundation organises grant competitions for artists and arts organisations, supports arts institutions, educational programmes run by arts institutions, as well as projects in the realm of cultural journalism. The Foundation enjoys a long-term collaboration with the Art Academy of Latvia, supporting its postgraduates in their work on their graduation shows. In 2015, the Foundation was the main supporter of the Latvian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale. For more information, please visit: www.ablv.org

Malcolm Reading Consultants
Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC) is a strategic architectural consultancy which specialises in the selection of contemporary designers. MRC believes in the power of design to create new perceptions and act as an inspiration – either at the local level, or internationally.

The consultancy offers a service to find the very best designers for clients with new building projects, whether through open-international, or private-invited competitions. Recent work in this area includes competitions for Tintagel Castle Bridge, the Guggenheim Helsinki, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park’s Culture & Education Quarter, the Mumbai City Museum, the Natural History Museum, the UK Pavilion at Milan Expo 2015, New College, Oxford, Art Mill, Qatar, the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Exhibition Road project, the UK Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo and the Glasgow School of Art.
https://malcolmreading.co.uk