Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall
Zaha Hadid Architects have been selected by the jury of the international design competition to build the new Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Performing in full houses all year round in the existing Sverdlovsk Philharmonic building that dates from 1936, the orchestra’s new home will provide an inspirational venue to meet the increasing popularity of the orchestra’s programme of concerts – and also create a new public plaza for the people of the city.
Echoing the physical aspects of sound waves, the design of the new Philharmonic Concert Hall is based on the properties of musical sound resonance creating wave vibrations in a continuous smooth surface. The design re-interprets these physical acoustic properties to define spaces for the auditoria that are suspended within the canopy, appearing to float above the new civic plaza that is both the lobby of the Philharmonic Concert Hall and an enclosed urban square.
Providing a 1,600-seat Concert Hall and a 400-seat Chamber Music Hall of the highest acoustic standards, these new auditoria are nestled within the surface deformations of the suspended canopy; liberating the lobbies from obstructions to open this space as a vibrant new gathering place for the local community.
This new 21st century addition will inhabit the void between the existing buildings and Weiner Gardens; not competing with these heritage buildings, but complementing the ensemble that will include the preservation and renovation of the current concert hall as an integral element of the new world-class facility that will be one of the focal points of the city’s cultural life.
Similarly, the new building does not impose upon the adjacent Weiner Gardens but seamlessly merges with the natural landscape; opening its transparent glass facade to offer views of the renovated gardens that includes an amphitheatre for outdoor performances
throughout the summer.
The lobby serves not only as an introduction to the world of symphony music, but also as a welcoming public plaza for all members of its local community. The existing Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Hall is housed within the city’s old Civic Assembly Building that was originally built as a club for all citizens to gather. The new design revives and enhances this commendable civic legacy; its spaces designed to function as a centre of Yekaterinburg’s civic, social and cultural life.
Enhancing its connections with the surrounding urban fabric of the city, large glazed facades blur the boundary between interior and exterior; inviting visitors to experience the spaces within that celebrate public gathering, civic forum and creative endeavour. The Philharmonic Concert Hall’s procession of interconnected public spaces continues through the building to its rooftop terrace overlooking the city’s Church of All Saints.
Christos Passas, Project Director at Zaha Hadid Architects, said: “Russia has been a formative influence on Zaha Hadid Architects’ creative work. From very early in her career, Zaha was attracted to the Russian avant-garde who conceived civic spaces as urban condensers that catalyse a public realm of activity to enrich creativity and community; allowing space itself to enhance our understanding and well-being. These principles are embedded within the design of the new Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall.”
Pavel Krekov, Deputy-Governor of the Sverdlovsk Oblast region, Head of the Project Office for the new Philharmonic Concert Hall and Chairman of the competition jury, said: “This project will enrich the city and provide the highest international acoustic and technical standards.”
Dmitry Liss, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra and member of the design competition jury, said: “For musicians, this new hall is crucial. It will be a musical instrument that brings the sound to life.”
47 international teams submitted proposals to the design competition that was organised by the Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure Development of the Sverdlovsk Region with the assistance of the charitable foundation for support of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra.
Project Team
Architect:
Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA)
ZHA Principal:
Patrik Schumacher
ZHA Design Director:
Christos Passas
ZHA Project Architect:
Alessio Costantino
ZHA Design Lead:
Ben Kikkawa, Melhem Sfeir, Zsuzsanna Barat, Afsoon Es Haghi
ZHA Design Team:
Duo Chen, Christina Christodoulidou, Anna Uborevich-Borovskaya, Ekaterina Smirnova, Aleksandar Bursac, Alicia Hidalgo Lopez,
Maria-Eleni Bali, Eckart Schwerdtfeger, Maria Avrami,
Valeria Perco, Sattor Jabbor
ZHA Senior Interior Designer:
Sonia Renehan
ZHA Cultural Researcher:
Vera Kichanova
ZHA Administrator:
Nastasija Hahonina
ZHA Project Consultant:
Liudmila Harrison-Jones
ZHA Graphic Design:
Silviya Barzakova
ZHA Videography:
Henry Virgin
Local Architect:
SPEECH (Moscow); Sergey Tchoban, Marina Kuznetskaya, Daria Demidova
Structural Engineering:
AKT II (London); Daniel Bosia
MEP Engineering:
Atelier 10 (London); Meredith Davey, Ivan Jovanovich,
Piers Watts-jones, Younha Rhee
Façade Engineering:
OPTIMISE (London); Scott Cahill, Adam Willetts,
Tim Macfarlane (Glass Light and Special Structure)
Landscape Design:
ARTEZA (Moscow); Irina Chebanenko
Theatre Consultant:
Theatre Projects (London); David Staples, Dave Agnes
Acoustic Engineering Design:
Marshall-Day (Melbourne, Hong Kong); Peter Fearnside,
Peter Exton, Thomas Scelo
Lighting Design:
OVI (New York); Enrique Peininger, Jean Sundin and Markus Fuerderer
About the Architects
Zaha Hadid
Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1950, Hadid studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before moving to London in 1972 to attend the Architectural Association (AA) School where she was awarded the Diploma Prize in 1977. She founded Zaha Hadid Architects in 1979 and completed her first building, the Vitra Fire Station, Germany in 1993.
Zaha Hadid, founder of Zaha Hadid Architects, was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize (considered to be the Nobel Prize of architecture) in 2004 and is internationally known for her built, theoretical and academic work. Each of her dynamic and pioneering projects builds on over thirty years of exploration and research in the interrelated fields of urbanism, architecture and design.
Hadid taught at the AA SchooI until 1987 and has since held numerous chairs and guest professorships at universities around the world. She is currently a professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and visiting professor of Architectural Design at Yale University.
Working with senior office partner, Patrik Schumacher, Hadid‘s interest lies in the rigorous interface between architecture, landscape, and geology as her practice integrates natural topography and human-made systems. leading to innovation with new technologies.
The MAXXI: National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, Italy and the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games are excellent manifestos of Hadid‘s quest for complex, fluid space. Previous seminal buildings such as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati and the Guangzhou Opera House in China have also been hailed as architecture that transforms our ideas of the future with new spatial concepts and dynamic, visionary forms.
Zaha Hadid Architects continues to be a global leader in pioneering research and design investigation. Collaborations with corporations that lead their industries have advanced the practice‘s diversity and knowledge, whilst the implementation of state~of-the-art technologies have aided the realisation of fluid and therefore complex architectural structures.
Currently Zaha Hadid Architects is working on a multitude of projects worldwide including: the High-Speed Train Station in Naples; the CityLife masterplan and tower in Milan; the Library & Learning Centre at the Vienna University of Economics as well as major master-planning projects in Beijing, Bilbao, Istanbul and Singapore. ZHA’s portfolio also includes cultural, corporate, academic and infrastructure projects across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North and South America, in addition to national institutions such as the new Central Bank of Iraq Headquarters.
Zaha Hadid Architects‘ work of the past 30 years was the subject of critically-acclaimed exhibitions at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2006, London‘s Design Museum in 2007, the Palazzo della Ragione, Padua, Italy in 2009, the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2011 and the Danish Architecture Centre in 2013. Her recently completed projects include The Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum in Michigan (2012), Galaxy SOHO in Beijing (2012), Pierresvives Library and Archive in Montpellier (2012), CMA CGM Head Office Tower in Marseille (2011), London Aquatics Centre (2011), Riverside Museum in Glasgow (2011), Guangzhou Opera House (2010), Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi (2010), MAXXI Museum in Rome (2009), Burnham Pavilion in Chicago (2009), Mobile Art for Chanel in Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York and Paris (2008) and the Nordpark Railway Stations in Innsbruck (2008).
Hadid‘s outstanding contribution to the architectural profession continues to be acknowledged by the world‘s most respected institutions including the Forbes List of the World‘s Most Powerful Women and the Japan Art Association presenting her with the ‘Praemium lmperiale’. In 2010 and 2011, her designs were awarded the Stirling Prize, one of architecture’s highest accolades, by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Other recent awards include UNESCO naming Hadid as an ‘Artist for Peace’, the Republic of France honouring Hadid with the ‘Commandeur de l‘Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’, TIME magazine included her in their list of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World‘ and in 2012 Zaha Hadid was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
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