All images courtesy Steven Holl Architects

Steven Holl Architects has been selected to design a new extension to one of India’s oldest museums, the Mumbai City Museum, also known as the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum. Selected over OMA, StudioMumbai Architecture, Zaha Hadid and four others, Holl is now the first architect ever to be chosen through an international competition to design a public building in Mumbai.

“The winning design was distinctive for its sculptural and calligraphic qualities,” stated the official press release. “It proposes a simple volume, which is enlivened by deep subtracting cuts, creating dramatic effects of light and shade. Its central feature is a reflecting pool in a new garden courtyard between the old and new buildings. The scheme will establish a cultural campus around the Museum in this growing district within Mumbai.”

The new 10,000-square metre North Wing will comprise new permanent and temporary galleries, as well as addingęan interpretation centre, library, archive, conservation facilities and a museum shop and café to the facility. A permanent gallery, located at the heart of the addition, will focus on contemporary Mumbai, celebrating its cultural and developmental milestones.

Steven Holl is one of the world’s leading contemporary architects; his practice is famous for projects such as the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas and the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark. Current work includes the John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts Expansion in Washington DC.

Holl will continue to work with Mumbai-based Opolis Architects to realise the Mumbai City Museum extension.

The selection jury comprised:

• Sitaram Kunte – chair of Jury, the Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai and Co-Chairman,Trustee of the Museum
• Tasneem Mehta – deputy chair of Jury, the Managing Trustee & Honorary Director of the Museum
• Minal Bajaj, a director of Bajaj Auto Ltd and a Donor Trustee of the Museum
• Shyam Benegal, a trustee of the Museum and a prolific filmmaker
• Homi Bhabha, director of the Mahindra Humanities Centre at Harvard as well as the Anne F Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities in the Department of English
• Vishakha Desai, the special adviser for Global Affairs and Professor of Professional Practice in the Faculty of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University
• Rajiv Jalota, the additional municipal commissioner, Projects, MCGM and Trustee of the Museum
• Sen Kapadia, founder of Sen Kapadia Associates
• Anand Mahindra, chairman and managing director of the Mahindra Group
• Martin Roth, the director of the V&A Museum in London
• Aroon Tikekar, the former president of the Asiatic Society in Mumbai, an author, journalist and authority on Mumbai

Karissa Rosenfield’s article ‘Steven Holl Selected to Design New Wing for Mumbai City Museum’ was first published on 08 Dec 2014. ArchDaily.