Black and white stairways splice and spiral through the Studio Libeskind-designed MO Museum of modern art in Vilnius, Lithuania.
New York-based Studio Libeskind, established by Daniel and his partner Nina Libeskind in 1989, designed the art museum to display its collection of over 5,000 pieces of Lithuanian art, including rare Soviet-era pieces.

A minimalist facade of white plaster covers the museum's angular form, which is disrupted at one corner by a stairway slicing through  the building, which leads to a public roof terrace.
A large black spiral staircase with contrasting white treads corkscrews through the centre of the MO Museum, connecting the lower lobby to the main gallery space.

Glazed lobby walls stretch two stories from the ground level entrance, and a cantilevered five-metre-high glass wall leans out over the terrace, with black frames that contrast the white facade and cross-hatching interior beams. Geometric skylights cut through the building throughout, letting light filter through the floors and giving visitors lines of sight through the different spaces.

Glass panels between the public spaces and the museum collection vaults, where undisplayed pieces are stored, give visitors a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes workings of the museum.

This level of transparency and permeability, both spatial and visual, between art collection, museum and visitor was key to Studio Libeskind's concept for the space and the mission of the MO Museum.

Started in 2009, th...