Sauerbruch Hutton (Germany)
+ Arhitekts Ingurds Lazdiņš

with Werner Sobek, Innius, and Topotek 1

The Non-iconic Museum

As anchor and counterpoint in the new “Hanza-Quarter”, the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art (LMoCA) takes on a position of “non-iconicity”. Appearing like a simple shed or warehouse, this proposal deliberately avoids architectural comparison with the contemporary expressionism of the new residential and office developments in its immediate context. Neither does it enter into the increasingly inflationary global competition for architectural extravagance in museums. The LMoCA will be a place of quiet but strong character, intimacy and surprise.

The museum is seen as a working place, providing a flexible infrastructure to serve the multiple needs of a contemporary museum that sees itself as a location for exhibition, performance, discussion and confrontation as well as a place for production, interpretation, research and communication.

It offers a wide range of enclosed and interstitial spaces that await interpretation as gallery, studio, performance space, agora, construction site or storage space.