Big Name Teams Shortlisted for Museum and Educational Center in Moscow

Six international teams have been selected for the second stage of the architectural design competition for the Museum and Educational Center of the Polytechnic Museum and Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The shortlisted design teams are:

• Project Meganom (Russia) and John McAslan & Partners (UK)
• Mecanoo International B.V. (The Netherlands) and TPO Rezerv (Russia)
• Farshid Moussavi Architecture (UK) and Rozhdestvenka Architectural Bureau (Russia)
• Massimiliano Fuksas Architetto (Italy) and Speech (Russia)
• 3XN A/S (Denmark) and Asadov Architectural Studio (Russia)
• Leeser Architecture (USA) and ABD Architects (Russia)

In case one of the selected finalists decides to drop out of the competition, the consortium of COOP Himmelb(l)au (Austria) and Architecture Bureau Atrium (Russia) was chosen to replace it.

The selected teams are now invited to prepare architectural concepts for the Museum and Educational Center by early February. After the technical expertise, the results will be presented to the jury, and the final result will be made at the end of March 2013.

The Polytechnic Museum in Moscow is one of the oldest and largest science and technology museums in the world. A large-scale state-level innovative program of the Polytechnic Museum modernization was started in 2010. In the framework of the project a principally new museum and educational center comprising the greatest scientific, technical and societal achievements based on the advanced museum technologies will be constructed by 2017-2018.

The concept of the modernized Science museum affiliated with the Polytechnic museum was developed by Event Communication (United Kingdom) in 2011. This concept supposes construction of a second museum building on the new territory of Lomonosov Moscow State University that will be called Museum and educational center of the Polytechnic Museum and Lomonosov Moscow State University and is the object of the Competition.

The Museum and Educational Center is envisaged as a meeting point for the Russian and international scientific community. This will help it to keep abreast of time and ensure that its exhibits, educational programs and interaction with the visitors are up to the mark.

The new building will provide access to the public displays of the Polytechnic Museum for the interested visitors.