Garage Museum

Three interactive exhibitions and a site specific installation among the events for the opening of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, designed by Rem Koolhaas.

Designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Gorky Park, inaugurated on June 12 with a range of exhibitions, performances, screenings, and events.

The 5,400 square-meter building features a state of the art facade consisting of a translucent double-layer of polycarbonate that is elevated two meters from the ground to visually reconnect the Museum’s interior to the park.

Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Photo: Yuri Palmin © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

The structure is immediately recognizable worldwide by its unique silhouette, produced by two 11-meter wide vertically sliding panels that rise seven meters above a rooftop terrace. The new building provides Garage with inventive opportunities for programming through five exhibition galleries, Auditorium, Resource Room, and education spaces, including Kid’s Room, as well as a Bookshop and Café. 

Five major international projects include interactive exhibitions by Yayoi Kusama (1929, Matsumoto, Japan) and Rirkrit Tiravanija (1961, Buenos Aires, Argentina) with Julius Koller (1939, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia); as well as the inaugural Garage Atrium Commission by Erik Bulatov (1933, Sverdlorsk, USSR); and a site-specific installation by Katharina Grosse (1961, Freiburg, Germany) for Garage Pavilion.

Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Photo: Yuri Palmin © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Photo: Yuri Palmin © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Photo: Yuri Palmin © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Photo: Yuri Palmin © Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
Rem Koolhaas and Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow


Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, 9/32 Krymsky Val st., Moscow, Russia
Program: museum
Architects: OMA
Partner-in-Charge: Rem Koolhaas
Project Architect: Ekaterina Golovatyuk
Team: Giacomo Cantoni, Nathan Friedman, Cristian Mare, John Paul Pacelli, Cecilia del Pozo, Timur Shabaev, Chris van Duijn with Yashin Kemal, Timur Karimullin, Federico Pompignoli, Marek Chytil, Salome Nikuradze, Boris Tikvarski
Area: 5,400 sqm
Completion: 2015