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BUILDING FOR
THE FUTURE
Drafts for the
Museum's enlargement, an expansion to the current building entitled Nākotnes
Nams (NN, Building for the Future), have been completed and the Rīga City
Building Office has issued an architectural planning permit setting forth
certain conditions and approvals that must be obtained before the preparation
of technical drawings can begin.
The project's architect, notable Latvian-American
architect Gunars Birkerts, believes: "The Brethren Cemetery, the Freedom
Monument, and the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia are three symbolically important points
in Riga's city plan." About the Museum's own form he says: "The architecture
of the Occupation Museum facade composition, both on the side of Rātslaukums
(Town Hall Square) and on the side of Strēlnieku laukums (Riflemen's Square),
is a significant testifier to its era's architecture and a contributor to the
formation of Riga's city environment."
Birkerts generously designed the project for the Museum
as a gift. The office of architect Dainis Smits is completing the detailed
drafts for the undertaking with Birkerts' supervision. Maija Sinka, architect
and member of the Board of the Museum of Occupation, is providing her
invaluable services as architectural adviser to the Museum free of charge.
In October 2006, the Saeima (Parliament
of the Republic of Latvia) passed the Law of the Museum of the
Occupation of Latvia. Until this law, the future of the Museum was
endangered as a building to be demolished.
The law defined the Museum's rights to use its property for its own
functions once they have been registered in the Deed Registry.
An interim
agreement with Valsts nekustamie īpašumi (VNI = State Real Estate), a
State-owned corporation administering the State's real estate, has authorized
the Museum to use the building located on Strēlnieku laukums 1 (Riflemen Square
1) free of charge. Cost of financing will be defrayed by the State.
The funds
necessary for interior furnishings and for new permanent exhibitions will have
to be provided from donations to the Museum designated to NN. The Museum needs
to raise Ls 1,500,000 in the next three years.
Several notable donations and pledges for the Building for the Future
have already been made and planning for the new, modernized exhibition has
already begun. This exhibition will be created by the Museum's historians and
internationally recognized museum designers and curators.
The new exhibit will encompass architect Gunar
Birkerts goal: from a dark past, to a bright present, to an enlightened
future. The exhibit will follow Latvia's
journey beginning with its first independence through three occupations and to
its renewed independence. The Gulag
barrack will be in the center of the exhibit.
There will also be an exhibit following the Baltic road to independence,
the so-called Singing Revolution. The NN
will also house spacious public rooms, offices and storage facilities.
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Building for the future 
