According to The Art Newspaper the government statement released on February 15 explained: “After deliberating as per the pre-set evaluation criteria including the technical and financial evaluation, the winning design selected was that of the internationally known Maki and Associates along with their Indian partner Opolis. Maki and Associates were awarded 77.56 per cent while Foster + Partners were a close second at 75.59 per cent.”

The Art Newspaper said that the Bihar government’s decision had caused concern to some international members of the jury. The seven-member jury comprised three Indian officials, as well as Neelkanth Chhaya, the dean of the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad, and three international members—the Patna-born artist Subodh Gupta, the Irish architect Roisin Heneghan and the Victoria & Albert Museum’s director Martin Roth.

Following the announcement, Roth was quoted in The Art Newspaper as saying: “After a thorough discussion, the jury chose the Foster scheme. We felt it was the best design. At the very last moment, the officials questioned the result.”

The Toronto-based consultants Lord Cultural Resources directed the architectural selection process. Barry Lord confirmed that in terms of overall points awarded, including financial considerations, Maki was slightly ahead of Foster.

A Foster spokeswoman said that “we are naturally disappointed not to win the contract”.

The three other architects on the short-list had been Daniel Libeskind (New York), Coop Himmelblau (Vienna) and Snøhetta (Oslo).

Patna already has a museum, set up by the British in 1917. It has a particularly fine collection of sculptures, including the Didarganj Yakshi statue, excavated on the banks of the Ganges in 1917.

The Maki scheme involves galleries on two levels, around a courtyard space. Their architects have already begun work on developing the scheme. Construction is expected to start in November and likely to be completed in 2015.

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