This year, to mark the 200th anniversary of the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy, OMA has collaborated with the local architect Andrea Tabocchini for a reset of its historic Gallery of the Kings. 

Partner David Gianotten and Project Architect Andreas Karavanas were responsible for leading the design, which remodeled the existing space to better display Egyptian statuary pieces as they were originally presented in the context of Karnak—an ancient temple complex that served as an architectural showcase to which Pharaohs added their various creations. 

The emerging Tabocchini, who was recently named a 40under40 European Design award winner, says of the design: "From the outset, we all saw this project as an opportunity to redesign a unique exhibition space. Culture must honor the past while remaining alive, evolving, being relevant in the present and inspiring the future." 

Visitors will first journey through a two-hall temple space whose newly uncovered 17th century architecture reveals vaults and high windows. The tour is bookended by Sphinx-flanking statues to goddess Sekhmet and effigies of the god Ptah and a statue of the god Amun, framed in between with reflective aluminum walls.

Work on the gallery precedes the culmination of a larger renovation effort next year. That includes a new covered courtyard space called the Piazza Egizia and a sequence of six interlocking "urban public rooms." The pre-renovation gallery was the product of a 2006 design from the scenographer Dante Ferretti. 

OMA beat other entries from Kengo Kuma, Pininfarina, Carlo Ratti Associati, and Snøhetta to win the museum's international design competition in January of last year.