Turin, Italy
In collaboration with local architects Andrea Tabocchini Architecture and T-Studio, David Gianotten and Andreas Karavanas of OMA have won the competition to transform the Museum Egizio for Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo with a series of connected “urban rooms” weaving through the existing museum, connecting it to Turin’s urban fabric, and restoring the public nature of the historically civic space.
Founded in 1824, Museum Egizio is the world’s oldest museum for Ancient Egyptian culture house in the College dei Nobili in Turin.
The building is a complex consisting of exhibition galleries, the Academy of Sciences, and an open courtyard, the museum’s architecture has undergone numerous alterations in the past two centuries.
Over the years, it increasingly became enclosed and detached from the rest of the city.
OMA’s design for the renovation of the Museum Egizio, in collaboration with historical consultant, Professor Andrea Longhi, addresses its historic role as a main civic space in Turin and its 21st-century social ambitions.
The competition entry by OMA and local firm Andrea Tabocchini Architecture proposes a reorganization of Museo Egizio’s public areas into six distinctive “urban rooms.”
By creating a new covered courtyard known as “Piazza Egizia” and a series of connected urban rooms open to all, the project integrates the museum back with Turin’s network of public spaces, while instilling it with a lucid identity.
“Museo Egizio, with an open courtyard, is historically a main civic space in Turin. Our team believes that it is vital to restore the public nature of the museum and integrate it back with Turin’s network of public spaces. By reorganizing the current museum’s public areas, we have created the Piazza Egizia, which is a place for all kinds of activities shared between Museo Egizio and the city,” states David Gianotten, OMA Managing Partner.
The project reorganizes the museum’s public areas into six distinctive urban rooms, each with its unique scale, function, and qualities.
The largest urban room central to the museum is the Piazza Egizia, designed as a public space shared between Museo Egizio and the city.
A central “spine” connects the six urban rooms together, as well as to both of the museum’s entrances on Via Accademia and Via Duse.
Openings have been introduced to the current building façade on Via Duse, inviting the public into the museum and Piazza Egizia for daily leisure activities.
A geometric ground floor pattern – inspired by the museum’s artefacts, such as the Merit’s funerary mask – creates visual continuity across the urban rooms.
The Piazza Egizia is a double-level, multifunctional courtyard conceived as a palimpsest of Museum Egizio’s history.
Here, the original architecture and traces of interventions over time are showcased.
“We have conceptualized the Piazza Egizia as a palimpsest that reveals the different layers of the museum’s history. This approach restores coherence to the architecture and lends the museum a lucid identity, while ensuring that the institution’s new needs are fulfilled,” states Andreas Karavanas, OMA Project Architect.
At level 0, the multiple historic openings of the courtyard – which had been closed since the museum’s 2010 renovation – have been restored, connecting this public space back to the city.
At level -1 where the Egyptian Garden and the event and learning space are located, Collegio dei Nobili’s original façade – also concealed since the 2010s – is uncovered.
Two ground openings at level 0 – directly above the Egyptian Garden and the event and learning space – bring light and direct visitors to the underground.
A transparent canopy, supported by extensions of existing columns, is installed above the Piazza Egizia to create a tempered environment.
The canopy’s aluminium cladded steelstructural grid – defined by the regular rhythm of Collegio dei Nobili’s façade – is in itself a device for rainwater collection, air ventilation, and lighting provision, addressing the museum’s ambitions for sustainability.
The Piazza Egizia and other urban rooms are open beyond working hours and welcome all visitors, with or without tickets.
Their public nature offers the possibility for the museum to extend its opening hours.
A selection of Museo Egizio’s artefacts is on display for the general public’s initial encounters with the museum collection.
From the urban rooms, visitors go on to see the museum exhibitions, or stay for free leisure activities and events, or continue strolling into other civic spaces in Turin.
Museo Egizio 2024 will be a destination for scholars and the interested public, and a rediscovered public place for all.
The competition design was led by OMA’s David Gianotten and Andreas Karavanas, in collaboration with local architects Andrea Tabocchini Architecture, T-Studio, and historical consultant Professor Andrea Longhi.
OMA’s design was selected among competition entries by Kengo Kuma and Associates, Pininfarina Architecture, Carlo Ratti Associati, and Snøhetta.
Project: Museo Egizio 2024
Architects: OMA
Project Partner: David Gianotten
Project Leader: Andreas Karavanas
Project Team: Rui Pedro Couto Fernandes, Giovanni Nembrini, Mateo Fontana, Marc Heure, Alisa Kutsenko, Antonie van Vliet, and Arthur Wong
Local Architects: Andrea Tabocchini Architecture (Andrea Tabocchini and Francesca Vittorini) and T-Studio
Historical Consultant: Professor Andrea Longhi
Visualizations: Alessandro Rossi and Jeudi Wang
Conservation and Restoration: Studio Strati
Structural Engineers: Manfroni Engineering Workshop
MEP and Sustainability: Sequas
Lighting Designers: Studio De Camillis – Fibbi
Client: Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, in collaboration with Fondazione Museo delle Antichità Egizie di Torino (Museum of Egyptian Antiquities Foundation Turin) and Fondazione per l’architettura / Torino (Architecture Foundation Turin)
Images Courtesy of OMA, Jeudi Wang, and Alessandro Rossi
