Assigning the task of designing the new Museum and Theatre headquarters

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, in conjunction with TR Warszawa Theatre, is starting the process to select an architect who will be assigned the task of designing a building complex for the Museum and Theatre on Warsaw's Plac Defilad.

The objective is to create a building complex on the north side of Plac Defilad, near Marszałkowska Street, with a total surface area of 26 000 m2, of which 15 000 m2 is earmarked for the Museum, and 11 000 m2 for the Theatre. The planned building complex on Plac Defilad will not only provide headquarters for two of Warsaw's new, up-and coming cultural institutions, but will also launch the reconstruction of the capital's central square.

The design process will be implemented jointly by the Museum and Theatre until a construction permit is acquired. Each institution will then administer and fund the investment process individually. The budget for the design and construction of the Museum section is 270 million Polish zlotys. The Theatre construction will be financed from European funds, for a budget of 125 million Polish zlotys. The investment timetable anticipates that design work will last until mid-2016, and the construction will be completed by the end of 2019. The Museum and Theatre will gain ownership of the building lot on Plac Defilad by December 31, 2013.

The architect who will be assigned the task of designing new headquarters for the Museum of Modern Art and TR Warszawa Theatre is to be selected through a procedure known as advertised negotiations, in accordance with Polish public procurement law. The commission to evaluate architects' applications will include: Joanna Mytkowska - director of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Wojciech Gorczyca - director of TR Warszawa Theatre, Grzegorz Piątek - architecture critic, Marek Mikos - director of the City of Warsaw's Architecture and City Planning Department, Wojciech Kwiatkowski - director of the Finance Department of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Ewa P. Porębska - editor-in-chief of Architektura Murator magazine, the artist Mirosław Bałka, Krzysztof Nowakowski - Chairman of The Society of Friends of the Museum and Museum Board member, Magdalena Staniszkis - SARP competition juror, Maciej Miłobędzki - SARP competition juror, Jerzy Grochulski - architect, Coordinator ofthe Team of SARP Experts and Tomasz Janowski- the director of the City of Warsaw's Culture Department - see the procedures for selecting an architect.