Winners of the Mystetskyj Arsenal Cultural-Art and Museum Complex in Kiev Competition Announced

On the initiative of President Victor Yushchenko, “Mystetskyj Arsenal Cultural-Art and Museum Complex,” a central cultural district consisting of several new and existing buildings, will be established in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, in the next few years. An international competition was conducted to select both, an urban master plan for the redevelopment of a former military site in Kiev’s Pechersk neighborhood, as well as the best architectural design proposals for the new buildings that will house such institutions as the Center for Ukrainian Music, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Ukrainian Center for Cinema and Screen Arts.

Decision
Last week, the jury met in an all-day session and decided in an intense and open discussion about the outcome of the competition.

It was decided to allocate the following prizes:

1st prize: Arata Isozaki & Associates, Tokyo/Japan

2nd prize: AIX Arkitekter AB, Stockholm/Sweden

3rd prize: David Chipperfield Architects, London/United Kingdom

4th prize: Kleihues + Kleihues, Berlin/Germany

The other finalists of phase 2 of the competition were:

Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Copenhagen/Denmark

Dietrich | Untertrifaller, Vienna/Austria

Schweger Architekten, Hamburg/Germany

Recommendation
With a large majority, the jury recommends to the promoter of the competition to commission the team of Arata Isozaki & Associates with the further development of the master plan as well as the architectural design of the Center for Ukrainian Music with Concert Halls. Further on the jury recommends to involve the other three winners in the design of the other buildings: AIX Arkitekter with the Ukrainian Center for Cinema and Screen Arts, David Chipperfield Architects with the Museum of Contemporary Art and Kleihues + Kleihues with the hotel.

The winning entry was praised by the Jury for its respectful design in context of the UNESCO protected built heritage of the Lavra, the Old Arsenal building and the landscape of the area with the historic ramparts. The relaxed attitude of the master plan impressed the jury as a robust base that can be developed into a strong master plan, including its capacity for different architectures, involving different architects. The proposed master plan is characterized by a careful relationship among enclosed volumes and open spaces, as well as by a stringent traffic solution. As a further strength of the design proposal by Arata Isozaki & Associates the jury recognizes the quality of the internal organization and the acoustics of the Ukrainian Center for Music with Concert Halls on.

For the further development of the master plan, the jury recommends to the promoter and the city of Kiev a number of measures such as the relocation of the museum and the reduction of the overall building program or its partial accommodation in the Old Arsenal. Overall, the jury is impressed by the open and professional dialogue of the competition and its outstanding result, which presents a base for a high-quality development and realization of this culturally so important task.

Procedure
The competition, which was run according to international standards, was divided in two phases. The process was preceded by a worldwide open application procedure. Out of the 133 design firms from 24 countries that submitted their applications, 26 were invited to participate in the first phase of the competition, among them two from Ukraine. The seven finalists of the second phase qualified in a first jury meeting in August.

Jury
Local and international architects as well as technical experts specialized in concert halls, museums, cinemas; traffic planning, security, building engineering and acoustics were part of the competition jury board. The jury chair was Professor Dr. Vladimir Slapeta from Prague.

Further international members of the jury have been:

• Louis Becker, Architect, Copenhagen/Denmark
• Prof. Rebecca Chestnutt, Architect, Berlin/Germany
• Philippe Chaix, Architect, Paris/France
• Prof. Marcel Meili, Architect, Zurich/Switzerland
• Prof. Gernot Schulz, Architect, Cologne/Germany
• Prof. Guenther Vogt, Zurich/Switzerland

The following Ukrainian architects complemented them:

• Igor Shpara, President of Ukrainian Union of Architects
• Vasyl Prysyazhnyuk, Main Architect of Kiev
• Yevgen Lishanskyy, Architect, Member of Ukrainian Union of Architects
• Yuriy Losytskiy, Honored Architect of Ukrainian Architecture Academy
• Vadim Zaplatnikov, Architect, Member of Ukrainian Union of Architects

The promoter was represented in the jury by:

• Igor Tarasyuk, Head of State Department of Affairs
• Vasyl Vovkun, Minister of Culture and Tourism
• Ivan Vasyunyk, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine
• Yuriy Bogutsky, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine
• Igor Didkovsky, Director general of State Enterprise Cultural-Art and Museum Complex “Mystetskyj Arsenal”

Exhibition
An exhibition of all design proposals of both phases opens/opened in the Ukrainian House in Kiev on December 2, 2008. The exhibition will run until Tuesday, December 17, 2008 and is open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Images: Phase Eins