An opening for the forthcoming new Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland (MSN Warsaw) from Thomas Phifer and Partners is right around the corner, timed to the 20th anniversary of its founding early next year. The commission, says the museum's director Joanna Mytkowska, helps the MSN Warsaw "take on a new role as a centre for conversations animating contemporary art of all kinds.'

The firm has provided a preview of its 213,000-square-foot concrete addition to the city’s cultural fabric, which recaptures the heart of the city’s Parade Square. It represents Phifer and Partners’ first completed project in the EU as well as the first purpose-built home for the institution whose operations had been spread throughout different temporary spaces in the capital for many years. 

Phifer describes: 'Our mission with this project was simultaneously to recognize the legacy of Parade Square, to create a new model of architecture for the historic city of Warsaw, and to design a space that can meet the complex needs of art since 1989 as well as those of contemporary Varsovians. [...] The building is a museum and a new town hall for citizens to join one another as active participants in the cultural renaissance underway in Warsaw."

Appearing as though an opaque horizontal vitrine suffused with natural light within, the museum's design boasts 48,911 square feet of flexible space for new temporary exhibitions, state-of-the-art conservation studios, an open ground level with bookshop and café, education areas, an auditorium, and 150-seat theater. A ribbon of clerestory windows punctures the handcrafted facade panels at the second-floor level with views into the galleries.

Before the entry sequence, a continuous arcade serves as a transitional boundary between the city and the museum is defined using a perimeter of honey locust trees that enclose the ground-floor public forum while setting the stage for visitors to appreciate MSN Warsaw’s holdings of contemporary art. The galleries stagger in height up to 25 feet, lit from above via the rooftop "fifth facade" and framed by a language of louvres and scrims that modulate daylight.

Once inside, a monumental double-symmetrical spiral stair feature frames the user experience. The galleries on both upper floors also feature ash-finished "city rooms" made for reflecting and offering a respite from the fatiguing pace of museum visits. 

The end of its first phase inauguration was celebrated on October 25th with the installation of the third WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION festival, which this year includes contributions from Harvard GSD students and a small gallery for work from the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich.

Phifer will remain active on the site—which is the largest public square in Europe—to complete the adjacent TR Warszawa Theatre. The firm expects the second and final phase's inauguration for the MSN Warsaw to be held in February 2025.