Aerial view of New Mariinsky Theater

The appearance of this reasoned geometry creates an architectonic articulation with the different architectural styles of surrounding streets. This difference in architectural writing qualifies the building’s front and back, brings it closer to the Mariinsky across the way, and settles it into the urban fabric with a facade on the plaza, the canal and the streets.

Main Hall of New Mariinsky Theater

The contact with the existing opera is not merely visual, it is also physical: with this catwalk coming out of the golden shell “plugging into” the historical facade on the other side of the canal. Thus, with this project we drill a deep link between the foyer of the old and new opera houses is drilled, allowing one to submerge and then emerge into the other. This disposition respects the historic perspective of the St. Nicholas church and preserves the landscape of the canal.

New Mariinsky Theater - View from the Krykov canal

Axial longitudinal section and West elevation

Golden shell detail of New Mariinsky Theater

Plaza of New Mariinsky Theater

General View of Residential Complex Moscow

This contrasts with the three malachite elements of the adjacent building. The brick-clad building offers a smooth and yet distinctive visual transition within the five-storey residential complex.

Facade of Residential Complex Moscow

Its style reflects the tenets of contextual architecture, where the relationship between buildings and their environment plays an important role. The building’s quality does not derive from its architectural style but from the way it is firmly anchored in its surroundings.