OMA to renovate the Egyptian Museum in Turin

The OMA design, led by David Gianotten and Andreas Karavanas – in collaboration with Andrea Tabocchini Architecture, T-Studio, and historical consultant Andrea Longhi – won the competition to renovate Museo Egizio in Turin, the oldest in the world in terms of Ancient Egyptian culture, founded in 1824 and currently housed in the College of Nobles.

OMA’s proposal features six “urban rooms” open beyond the museum working hours for visitors with or without tickets and connected by a central spine, which also leads to both entrances of the museum, in Via Accademia and Via Duse. Among these, there will be the “Piazza Egizia”, a new covered courtyard on two levels, which aims to open the cultural space to the population.

The urban rooms share a ground floor design inspired by the museum’s artifacts, which gives visual continuity. In the current façade along Via Duse, new openings were introduced, further attracting the public to the museum and the Piazza Egizia. The multiple historic openings of the courtyard on the ground floor – closed due to changes that the building has undergone over the centuries – have been reopened, to further connect this space to the city. A selection of artifacts, moreover, was put on display to sanction a first meeting of the public with the museum’s collection.

There will then be an Egyptian garden and an event and learning space, where the original facade of the Collegio dei Nobili, hidden from the renovation of 2010, will be exposed again. Above the courtyard, there will be a transparent roof, consisting of a structural steel grid covered in aluminum-clad, also useful for rainwater collection, ventilation, and lighting.