Location: St. Petersburg, Russia.

Architect: Studio 44.

The Siege of Leningrad was a devastating event during World War II, resulting in the deaths of approximately one million citizens from starvation, cold, and air raids. The proposed museum aims to revisit this experience and showcase the personal pain, suffering, and courage of individual citizens, in addition to the story of heroic fortitude and unity of the people. The museum is a group of tower-like volumes partly covered by a vast conical earth mound, representing the besieged Leningrad. The main space of the museum is a round hall inside the mound with the towers at its core, encircled by the Timeline of the Siege, a projection wall with a dynamic collage of film chronicles, photographs, schemes, graphs, etc. arranged in chronological order. The desperate military and civilian efforts to weaken and break through the encirclement are presented by three breaches in the Timeline wall and three narrative blocks beyond them. The heart of the main museum space is the Chamber of Diaries, where the story of the Siege is narrated in first person. Finally, in the Chamber of Diaries, the theme of private tragedy and disaster is expressed to its strongest degree. Above the Diaries and right below the summit of the mound there is the Hall of Remembrance, where visitors can pay their respects to the victims of the Siege of Leningrad.

Photo credit: Studio 44 Architects.