GAM Torino building renovation by MVRDV

GAM Torino building renovation by MVRDV in Turin

30 June 2026

Design: MVRDV and Balance Architettura

Location: Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Turin, north west Italy

MVRDV wins competition to renovate Turin’s Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art with open storage and adaptable displays

Images © MVRDV

Rotterdam, June 30th 2026 – The planned renovation of the Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Turin (GAM Torino) was revealed in full today with a public event and exhibition. The design by MVRDV and Balance Architettura, which was selected through a public competition in December 2025, aims to restore the qualities of the building from 1959 while transforming it with the quintessential features of a 21st-century museum, making it more open and including publicly accessible storage, a highly adaptable display system, and spaces conceived with the active engagement of the public in mind.

The design by MVRDV and Balance Architettura aims to restore the original qualities of the building while transforming it with the features of a 21st-century museum

The current building of GAM Torino was completed in 1959, designed by the architects Carlo Bassi and Goffredo Boschetti. From the outset, this remarkable building was an exemplar of modern thinking: its main volume is oriented diagonally within the urban block, breaking with Turin’s orthogonal street grid to provide uniform light exposure throughout the day, while its interior was designed according to a free plan, allowing for flexibility in exhibition design. However, over the years the original clarity of the design has been lost, as interventions to meet new safety requirements and museum standards altered the relationship between the building, the visitors, and the city. The museum’s gardens are now fenced off and overgrown with bamboo; its skylights have been closed in favour of artificial lighting; a number of fire escape stairs are placed on the exterior; and a proliferation of internal divisions have made its once-open interiors more fragmented.

The design by MVRDV reverts many of the changes that have accumulated over the years, honouring the original vision of Bassi and Boschetti

The design by MVRDV and Balance reverts many of these changes, honouring the original vision of Bassi and Boschetti. The proposal reopens the skylights and discards almost all of the internal partitions throughout the building, making the galleries bright and spacious once again. The external fire escape stairs are removed in favour of a new escape staircase inside the building, which mirrors the building’s original staircase in the floorplan. In the now-open-plan galleries, a grid of railings spans between the building’s structural columns, allowing display walls, dividing curtains, and other exhibition modules to be suspended from above – providing museum staff with a simple system to shape and reshape the layout of the galleries on demand.

In the now-open-plan galleries, a grid of railings provides museum staff with a simple system to shape and reshape the layout of the galleries on demand

The most significant update to the museum will take place at ground level and below. The basement will be converted with an open storage approach, allowing the public to glimpse behind the scenes of the museum’s operations and see the entire collection. This new museological approach returns GAM Torino to the cutting edge of museums worldwide, joining institutions such as the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam – also designed by MVRDV – and the V&A East Storehouse in London, which have pioneered the practice of large-scale open storage in recent years.

The basement will be converted with an open storage approach, allowing the public to glimpse behind the scenes of the museum’s operations and see the entire collection

Above this basement level, the design opens a broad diagonal pathway through the museum grounds, passing underneath the main gallery volume. Incorporating large amounts of glass, this route brings in natural light and offers views into the subterranean space, while at night the lights of the storage below mark the path with an ethereal glow. This eye-catching feature offers much more than a simply visual change: The new pathway doubles as a public plaza, allowing for a wide variety of public activities. In addition, by creating the diagonal cut-through, GAM Torino becomes part of the shortest route between Turin’s city centre and both the Polytechnic University of Turin the exhibition spaces of OGR Torino. Thus, the new route becomes a key tool for the museum to engage with the public, ensuring long-term relevance and success.

The design opens a broad diagonal pathway through the museum grounds, passing underneath the main gallery volume

“In many ways, our design revisits the ideas and the optimism that were central to the creation of this building 70 years ago”, says MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. “We aim to clean up and to open this now-enclosed building as much as possible. It creates a dialogue between the past and the future. I’d hope that if Carlo Bassi and Goffredo Boschetti could see our proposal today, they would be impressed at how new technology, materials, and ideals could take their ideas even further than was possible in the 1950s.”

Incorporating large amounts of glass, the new pathway brings in natural light and offers views into the subterranean space

Inside the building, the majority of the furniture will be original pieces, both restoring the original items that were already in use in the gallery, and reintroducing furniture that has long been in storage. This approach not only honours the original design, it also contributes to the renovation’s sustainable features. Other measures taken to improve the building’s environmental performance are to improve the performance of the glass skylights, and to reuse materials from demolished elements in the newly constructed features.

The new design creates a dialogue with the original project of Carlo Bassi and Goffredo Boschetti, translating their ideas into the 21st Century

The design for the renovation of GAM Torino was developed by MVRDV and Balance Architettura, with EP&S Group as engineers and Stratosferica as public space experts. The project was made possible by the support of the Fondazione Torino Musei, and by funding from the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. Renovation work is projected to begin in the second half of 2027.

GAM Torino, Italy – Building Information

Project Name: GAM Torino
Location: Turin, Italy
Year: 2025–
Client: Fondazione Torino Musei, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo
Size and Programme: 18,140 m2 – Museum, Auditorium, Restaurant
Sustainability certification: LEED Gold (Targeted)

Credits:
Architect: MVRDV
Founding Partner in charge: Winy Maas
Partner: Bertrand Schippan
Design Team: Patrizia Bucciarelli, Federico Fiorino, Miguel del Campo Grijalbo
Visualisations: Antonio Luca Coco, Luana La Martina, Angelo La Delfa, Lorenzo D’Alessando, Stefano Fiaschi
Strategy and Development: Maria Stamati
Copyright: MVRDV Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries

Partners:
Co-Architect: Balance Architettura Structural engineer, MEP, Cost calculation, Environmental advisor: EP&S Group Energy consultant: Busato Geologist: Di Gioia Michelangelo

Images © MVRDV

MVRDV

Turin, Italy buildings images / information received 300626 from Architecture practice MVRDV

Location: Torino, Italy, southern Europe.