Moscow, Russia
SANAA has proposed a new design for the Hexagon, to restore and renovate the historically listed landmark building, the “Hexagon,” which was once an exhibition center, but currently in ruins after a series of fires, into a new gallery space for The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow.
Originally designed by Russian architects Ivan Zholtovsky, Viktor Kokorin, and Mikhail Parusnikov, the Hexagon served as the Machines and Tools Pavilion at the Agricultural and Handicraft Industries Exhibition in 1923.
The new project will increase the museum’s exhibition area in a relationship to the current Garage headquarters in Gorky Park, paying attention to the principles of sustainable consumption, and the creation of an accessible environment, the program will include a new public courtyard, three exhibition galleries, a library, a bookstore, and a cafe.
The project was the only one constructed using a frame of reinforced concrete posts and beams and wooden trussed rafters, unlike others that were wooden and have not been preserved.
The original design featured double-height central atriums and narrow single-height wings that join to create a low gallery all around the main structure opened towards an internal courtyard.
Various changes have been made to these structures over the years, as the building has also served as a lemonade factory, a cafe, a cinema, and a discotheque.
The museum moved into its first permanent home in 2015, a building designed by OMA, in 2012, after previously occupying the former Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage in Obraztsova Street and a pavilion designed by Shigeru Ban.
The building consists of a series of six identical halls, 9,500 square meters of functional space, organized around a circular courtyard and SANAA’s design restores the original proportions of the internal layouts, allowing double-height gallery spaces to open directly out to the courtyard.
“When we were invited to work on the Hexagon, we immediately began to think about whether we could somehow preserve the original layout and proportions,” said SANA.
“And whether we could create something that everyone would use. Garage has always had a strong focus on the architecture of public spaces and their history, and this is very much in line with our practice.”
“The Hexagon has a particular charm and we have tried to retain that in our design.”
The structures will be stripped of any non-original decorative elements to highlight the building’s neoclassical form.
SANAA’s design based their design on six principles: Geometry + Proportion, preserving the original proportions; Connected Spaces, a visual and physical connection between the pavilions and internal courtyard; Daylight, maximizing natural light; Spatial Organization; Decorative/Interior Elements, facades will be free of decorative elements, restoring the neoclassical identity of the building; and Landscape.
In the past few decades, the Hexagon served as a café, a restaurant, and a discotheque, among other things, until it was eventually abandoned.
After a number of fires, the Hexagon was partially ruined.
In 1999, Moscow City Government declared it a protected monument of the garden and park design. The Machines and Tools Pavilion (the Hexagon) became a listed building.
No project cost or estimated date of completion for the Hexagon has been made public yet.
Project: The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Architects: SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates)
Original Architects: Ivan Zholtovsky, Viktor Kokorin and Mikhail Parusnikov
Client: The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art