The architecture studio of David Adjaye have won the international competition to design a new contemporary art museum for the centre of Riga, Latvia.

Adjaye Associates, working with local firm AB3D, envisioned the museum as a social incubator, a welcoming and porous space where people could be brought together through a variety of formal and spontaneous interactions.

The statement from Adjaye Associates and AB3D:

The Latvian Museum for Contemporary Art will offer an experience of contemporary art that synthesises art practice and art perception. Speaking to a wide spectrum of artwork, the building comprises a group of flexible spaces for a multi-nodal display sequence – offering smaller spaces for intimate works through to more expansive environments to facilitate larger installations. The form resonates with traditional domestic Latvian architecture, like a simple wooden house, elevated to an institutional architecture. This suggests the idea of the museum as a home for the collection, inviting a wide audience to participate in the cultural and civic exchange it will offer. The roof structure refers to a distinctive architectural trope of the region. Each tilt is a highly specific geometry designed to sculpt the pure northern light in order to define the interior organisation and flexibility of the museum.

“The winning proposal is a beautiful and poetic response to the challenge of the design brief but above all it is specific to Riga,” said Latvia’s culture minister Dace Melbarde. “The team thoroughly understood the effect of soft northern light in experiencing and creating art and this insight was the inspiration for their scheme.

« Through the use of wood and form, the concept design subtly references Latvian architecture, proposing a very animated structure with a lively entrance that will enable the museum to create architectural presence in a new and emerging district, » said V&A design director David Bickle, who chaired the jury.

« The design is very welcoming and porous – it has the potential to be loved. »

David Adjaye’s major current projects include the Smithsonian Museum of African American History, which is due to open 24 September 2016 in Washington DC.

The practice is also working on a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York and is shortlisted for the Obama Presidential Center, set to be built in Chicago.

http://competitions.malcolmreading.co.uk