Reconstruction of local history museum

The existing building of Donetsk regional museum of local lore (in the past – the building of standard Soviet school) was reconsidered and corrected with need of obtaining more  efficiency from the areas of the building and also its global reconstruction.

The main concept of the museum’s volume is preservation of the existing structure of the building and giving more expressive decision to it.

Highlight of volume is its crowning part – the huge exposition hall which lays down on the existing wings of the museum, thereby uniting all construction in uniform structure  by the transitions - "mine galleries".

Such solution is proposed by a number of advantages:

• Increase in the area of an exposition (addition of  transitions).

• The convenient and uniform route passing from one volume of the building into another.

• All functional zones of service have access to an exposition.

• The exposition hall is located on the highest floors of the museum, it gives the chance to see panoramas of Donetsk.

The volume of a lobby and lecture hall for visitors is also expressive part of the museum. These volumes are expressed by cubic tight forms from glass, which are similar to chopped forms of coal crystals that also reminds of regional features of the Donbass edge. One more sight of the museum – a skeleton of a prehistoric mammoth which found a worthy place and decorates entrance group. Its expressive silhouette will be perceived from the street as the history, which stiffened in "ice" volumes of time.

In general, the building keeps regular structure of the existing volume, with blank walls and narrow windows, however bares the new essence, opens the contents by brisk glass volumes.

The constructive scheme of this building - without framework, with external and internal bearing walls (longitudinal and cross). The constructive solution of the attached volumes (a lobby for visitors, a lecture hall and an exposition) are solved individually. Their constructive decision closely interacts with designs of the existing building, forming the complete structure.