Well it certainly takes them long enough to get all the paperwork in order and make things click. You might recall that, back in June, we were talking about Rem Koolhaas‘ AMO was in talks with the Hermitage about retooling the whole historic museum to bring it more up to date and speak to a wider audience. But that was just all hypothetical plans. Now it’s being reported that the Hermitage has finally pulled the trigger on the deal and will be bringing Koolhaas and his cronies in to class up the joint. Well, sort of. It still sounds like it’s more a plan than, you know, actual hammers and nails and turning Litta Madonna into an interactive video game. Here’s a bit:

A joint AMO/Hermitage team will begin work to refine the museum’s global agenda, its urban and architectural programming, and its curatorial strategies over the next 12 months.

A joint statement says the team will assess the institution’s ‘global mission, national position and urban situation, as well as its relationship to the city of St Petersburg.’

The ideas will then be tested via the curation of one of the museum’s permanent exhibitions, the design of a temporary exhibition and an urban design project, before the final publication in 2014 of a Hermitage masterplan and an associated exhibition.