Rem on the Hermitage: "The big irony is that the Hermitage is thought of as one of the poor museums, but it has so much space that it can actually afford to be different and more experimental than the others. I can imagine hundreds of things. If you simply treat the building as a contextual machine, then it suggests a vast number of new curatorial environments. It will never be a white wall museum or a white cube." telegraph | previously
In this article we also find out more about the reknowned Studio 44 which apparently still holds sway over the design of the building:

"They aim to combine St Petersburg tradition with modern space in an enfilade of vast rooms created by covering the five courtyards - a space intended for blockbuster modern shows.

The Yaweins have won virtually every architectural prize in Russia. Their father, Igor Yawein (1903-80), was one of the most remarkable St Petersburg architects of his generation and the brothers graduated under his eye from sandcastles to model-making and architectural drawing. "