RIGA, LATVIA.-The Latvian Ministry of Culture announced plans to move forward with its first museum of contemporary art, designed by Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). The 16,000 m2 museum, to be built in the port city of Riga, will be Latvia's first new museum of art in over 100 years. Imagined as a multi-functional centre for contemporary culture, the museum will host seminars, concerts and theatrical performances, in addition to housing international exhibitions and a permanent collection of contemporary Baltic art.

The design unveiled by OMA preserves and incorporates many original features of the existing building, a former power plant. A newly constructed 4,000 sq m exhibition hall will wrap the perimeter of the old building, while other museum functions such as the library, lecture hall, cafe, administration, and artist workshops will be contained
inside the original structure which dates back to 1905. 'We embed the old in new architecture and organise the public program related to the new so that the old is always present but the art is not a prisoner of it.' states OMA founder and partner Rem Koolhaas, explaining the decision to house more functional aspects of the program inside the existing power plant.

The museum is part of a larger cultural initiative undertaken by the Latvian Government and the State agency '"New" Three Brothers'. In addition to OMA's design for the museum, the initiative includes the construction of a new concert hall and national library.

The museum is OMA's second project in Latvia. In early 2006 the office was commissioned by the Latvian Government to design a masterplan of Riga's port area - one of the last remaining dockland areas in Europe to be redeveloped.

The project is lead by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf whose previous collaborations include masterplans for the Riga Port City, the White City area of London and most recently in Kuwait and Ras Al Khaimah; as well as, a proposal for the Hermitage Museum, the Image of Europe exhibition and the Gulf - part of the 10th international Venice Biennial. They are joined by OMA associates Beth Hughes and Miho Mazereeuw. The museum is expected to open in 2011.