MARIINSKY II
THEATER
ST-PETERSBOURG
RUSSIA, 2003-2009
CULTURE
PR–238
The expansion of the Mariinsky Theater, achieved by adding a new stage along its west facade, across the Kryukov Canal, is contained within a crystalline, golden envelope. The space between the existing building and this shell houses the lobby, café, and access areas.
GALLERY
019
PROGRAM
The project includes a large auditorium with a capacity of 2,000 seats and an orchestra pit that can accommodate 130 musicians. The foyer of the auditorium unfolds into a series of balconies connecting the different levels and offering sweeping views of the city through the theater’s golden shell. Rehearsal rooms complete the facilities for ballet, opera, orchestra, and choir.
DETAIL
Situation
1 place Teatralnaya, Saint-Pétersbourg, Russia
Year
2003-2009
Status
Concours international, projet lauréat, sans suite
Site’s area
14 000 m²
Project area
60 000 m²
Design offices
HL-Technik Engineering, Bollinger+Grohmann, Changement à vue, Nagata Acoustic, Jean-Paul Lamoureux
DESCRIPTION
The western part of Saint Petersburg is a protected historic area, home to Saint Nicholas Naval Cathedral, among other landmarks. Visible, like the city’s other major monuments, the golden shell of the new opera house does not follow the lines of the historic building. It deviates from them, enveloping the banks of the canal without touching them, and rises above the auditoriums, creating vast spaces comparable to those found beneath a dome. Like a garment of light, it spreads widely “around the body,” leaving open spaces that open onto the city and extending the public space inside the building: a succession of foyers forming a generous covered gallery connecting the main hall and the modern hall, restaurants, cafes, shops, and other services.
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Taking advantage of this distance between the envelope and the building, the roofs are transformed into terraces, balconies, and belvederes. We emerge above the rooftops and perceive, through the architecture, the presence of the city. These elevated spaces are accessible to all, day and night, during events, rehearsals, or set-up and dismantling. They are the visible part of the iceberg: the part we visit, where we walk, where we meet, where we arrange to meet—at the OPERA. Behind the golden shell, we enter an imposing space of black marble to discover the grand hall, a mythical place, always sumptuous, eternally surprising. Here, red and gold blend together like an immense fresco, its image projected onto the seats, balconies, walls, and ceiling. We enter a painting, a tapestry inspired by the ornamentation of our most beautiful classical halls.
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