4 April 2022
Anatoly Barsukov, Deputy General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre for Construction, visited the site in Kaliningrad. In an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, he spoke about what the building will be like, about the technical equipment and special features of the project.
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The architectural concept provides that the theatre building, shaped as a hyperbolic paraboloid, will have three zones – public spaces, a stage complex and office premises. The large hall will have 950 seats, and there will be 300 seats in the small one. They intend to make a functional roof; it can be another stage for performances on warm days.
“Not only the exterior of the building with facades made of stone and alucobond will be unique, but also its “interior”. The event is exceptional: the construction of an opera and ballet theatre from scratch, which has not happened in Russia for a very long time. This made it possible to move away from a classical design, when a theatre is built down: a maximum one rise to the level of the stalls, and everything else is the so-called under stage, the lower part, where all the stage equipment required for changing the stage set is located. Breaking the tradition, the Kaliningrad branch of the Bolshoi Theatre will be built not vertically, but horizontally.
This, for example, will allow one to easily move fully assembled stage sets to the stage after rehearsal in the "pocket" – room to the side of the stage. There will be four such pockets – all 18 by 18 meters, according to the standard of the main stage, and one of them arranged as a rehearsal room.
There are many more such complex witty technical features in the project that will help to transform the theatre space to directors’ fancy, the needs of artists and comfort of the spectators. Thus, a 20-metre portal – the "gate" of the stage – can be narrowed to 18 or 16 metres, so that the hall works not only for large-scale performances of the opera and ballet theatre, but can also host more chamber-like productions. The orchestra pit can serve not only for its intended purpose, but also become a continuation of the stalls with seats for spectators, or a proscenium. The small stage with a separate entrance, is also a ‘transformer’, since there are several options for arranging seats for spectators and the occupancy rate of the hall”, Anatoly Barsukov shared in his interview.
At the moment, pile foundation is being built at the site of the future branch of the Bolshoi Theatre in Kaliningrad. Its completion is 33% 5 bored secant pile drivers operate at the site. 6,000 cub. m of concrete, and more than 650 tons of reinforcement are used in the construction. 192 piles out of 582 have been driven. The works are underway.
The Opera and Ballet Theatre in Kaliningrad is being built on the Oktyabrsky Island. The design of the branch was developed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, and the Russian designer GORKA Group is responsible for adapting it to Russian conditions and standards. The project is under implementation by Stroytransgaz Group.