Soviet modernist: Rem Koolhaas-designed Garage Museum of Contemporary Art opens in Moscow

OMA's Rem Koolhaas has reinvented Moscow's Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, complete with a brand new façade which detaches itself from its factory-like predecessor Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage. Photography: David X Prutting/BFAnyc.com

(Image credit: David X Prutting/BFAnyc.com)

By Catherine Shaw

last updated 12 August 2022

in News

Architecture studio OMA has resurrected a 1960s Soviet Modernist ruin as a contemporary art museum in Moscow's Gorky Park, restoring original features and wrapping the two-storey space in a gleaming polycarbonate façade.

The 5,400 sq m building is a new permanent home for the Garage art centre founded in 2008 by art collector and philanthropist Dasha Zhukova and named after the centre's first location, the Konstantin Melnikov-designed Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage. More recently, a nearby pavilion designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has provided a temporary home.

The new structure looks nothing like its Brezhnev-era predecessor, the 1,200-seat Vremena Goda restaurant that OMA founder Rem Koolhaas first saw when he visited Moscow in his twenties.

'What we tried to do was to preserve some of the history of its decay. For me, the great fallacy of the whole preservation movement is that it can only preserve great monuments,' says Koolhaas.

New architectural interventions include a double-height lobby that accommodates large-scale commissioned projects such as the debut Come to Garage! painting by Russian artist Eric Bulatov.

The double layered translucent polycarbonate façade also acts as a space in which to hide the building's electrical services while two 11-metre wide panels on either side of the building slide upwards revealing views in- and outwards. Garage curator Kate Fowle says this creates a unique 'visual interface' with the park that has also received something of a facelift with manicured lawns and an artificial beach where young Moscovites suntan on sculptural recliners.

According to Koolhaas, the generous dimensions of 1960s Soviet architecture offered a unique chance to experiment with the act of preservation in a 'radical' way adding galleries, education facilities, an auditorium, and a rather utilitarian-looking cafe.

Inside, original brickwork has been left exposed while 'found' features like a crumbling mosaic artwork and moss-green ceramic tiles - once ubiquitous in Soviet interiors - are coupled with contemporary concrete and birchwood floors.

OMA's innovative design stands in contrast to Moscow's relatively conservative art scene where political works are especially still perceived as highly controversial. The inaugural programme avoided any such issues with the likes of Yayoi Kusama's playful works that included several of the park's trees sheathed in the artist's trademark polkadot pattern, Rirkrit Tiravanija's Ping-Pong Club Moscow, and a small concrete space that will eventually contain a work made from nuclear waste. It is 'scheduled' to arrive post-treatment in 3015.

Reflective walls of garage museum — With sleek, geometrical lines and an emphasis on horizontality and modernist traits, this new architecture reflects OMA founder Rem Koolhaas's desire to retain elements of the past. *Photography: Yuri Palmin. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Corner exterior view of garage — The building's angular appearance is striking in the otherwise completely natural and green environment of Gorky Park. *Photography: Yuri Palmin. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Photo of garage walls that reflect the sky — However although the building is modern and very architectural in form, its reflective surfaces also make it one close to nature as it blends into the mirrored environment. *Photography: Yuri Palmin. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Close up view of garage museum reflective walls — From up close, the facade seems rougher, as though sanded. *Photography: Yuri Palmin. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Museum view on left, red painted trees with white spots — The architecture is complemented with playful designs by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama: the trees surrounding the museum are covered in red paint and white spots. *Photography: David X Prutting/BFAnyc.com*

Sloped red painted tree with white spots — This repetitive pattern, typical of Kusama's work, galvanises the space and gives it colour. *Photography: David X Prutting/BFAnyc.com*

Artist Eric Bulatov standing next to large painted wall which reads 'Come to Garage' — Russian artist Eric Bulatov stands next to his large-scale painting which reads 'Come to Garage!' His pioneering work generally mocks Soviet propaganda and totalitarian regimes. *Photography: David X Prutting/BFAnyc.com*

Room and objects painted red with white spots — Echoing the outdoor tree installations, Kusama's 'Dots Obsession' room painted in red and covered with white dots refers to the artist's hallucinatory visions of multiplying objects and patterns. *Photography: Egor Slizyak. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Infinity room with dark lighting and coloured spots — Simarly, Kusama's 'Infinity Room' embodies her way of envisaging the world: a succession of random dots overwhelming and blurring her rational perceptions. *Photography: Egor Slizyak. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Numerous black and white photographs on white wall — A collection of black and white photogaphs entilted 'Love Me, Love My Umbrella,' whimsically taking after the title of a Jabberheads' song, populates the walls of a dedicated room at Garage. *Photography: Egor Slizyak. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Six black and white photos on white wall in the distance — The photographs exhibited are strategically placed, voluntarily leaving the brickwork visible for instance, so as to both compliment the surrounding architecture and the pieces themselves. *Photography: Egor Slizyak. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Multiple black and white different sized photo prints in room — Garage's permanent collection is comprised of documentary and artistic photographs... *Photography: Egor Slizyak. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Photos and paintings hung on white, blue and brick wall — ...But also of major paintings by Pollock, Odilon Redon, De Chirico, Dali and many others... *Photography: Egor Slizyak. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

Museum showcasing Russian history in glassed boxes — A design corner has been established in the new Garage premises, displaying mundane and precious objects which marked Russian history. *Photography: Egor Slizyak. Courtesy of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art*

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Catherine Shaw is a writer, editor and consultant specialising in architecture and design. She has written and contributed to over ten books, including award-winning monographs on art collector and designer Alan Chan, and on architect William Lim's Asian design philosophy. She has also authored books on architect André Fu, on Turkish interior designer Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu, and on Beijing-based OPEN Architecture's most significant cultural projects across China.