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Avery Associates Architects
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The philosophy of the design is twofold; firstly to celebrate the powerful Russian spirit of 'oneness with nature' as immortalised by so many great Russian artists, and secondly to create a world-class arts complex in a dynamic and harmonious relationship with the much loved Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre.
This new-old dialogue begins in deference to the existing theatre by placing the very much larger new building behind it at the northern (rear) end of the park. There the two flytowers, the most dominant elements of the city skyline, can be aligned on axis, the one melding with, and partially concealing, the other. There too, the form and massing of the existing theatre can be continued into the new structure, creating a visual continuity between the two.
The placing of the two theatres back-to-back in this way means that not only can the front-of-house facilities be shared most effectively and efficiently, but it enables the vehicular access and the staff and performers' entrance to be grouped together in a single, secure and easily monitored position.
The new auditorium has 1100 seats arranged generously with 550 mm seat widths and 1000 mm wide rows. It is incredibly versatile, providing for opera, ballet, dance, orchestral works and for civic use, conferences, receptions, fashion shows, etc. The new/old dialogue is nowhere better expressed than here. In the purity of its geometry it refers both to the great baroque theatres of the past that continue still to create such an exciting sense of occasion and to the double-sphere geometry of the Jerwood Vanbrugh Auditorium at RADA.
The East (technical) side is cliff-like in appearance, the walls here being made of irregularly faceted clear and white opalescent glass sheathing a thick thermally insulating masonry wall. The glass can be back-lit at night such that the walls shimmer and glow white through the silver birches like ice-cliffs in winter.
The West (public) side is, by contrast, more organic, the curvaceous forms of the foyers being expressive of the ballet and the thousands of sinewy rivers and streams of the Perm region.
The axiality of the existing theatre is reinforced by a cascade of reflective pools either side of which secret forest paths meander amongst the trees leading, as pleasurable surprises, to statuary commemorating the famous Russian artists and intellectuals associated with Perm.
Avery Associates Architects © 2010 |
