Zaha Hadid Architects to design new Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall in Russia

Zaha Hadid Architects won against 47 international teams in a competition to design the new Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall in the growing cultural city of Yekaterinburg, Russia. The new Sverdlovsk Concert Hall will be the new home of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, who has been performing in the existing Sverdlovsk Philharmonic building, which dates back to 1936.

The new Concert Hall will be able to accommodate larger audiences for the orchestra's year-round performances and also create a new public plaza in the city. ZHA's other projects in Russia in recent years include the Sberbank Technopark and a nine-building masterplan along Russia's Black Sea.

ZHA's design was inspired by the physical properties of musical sound. “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,” the firm says. 

Featuring a glass facade that offers views of the renovated gardens and amphitheater, the new building will feature a 1,600-seat concert hall and 400-seat chamber music hall that will be “nestled within the surface deformations of the suspended canopy” and built with state-of-the-art acoustic standards.

Surrounded by heritage buildings and Weiner Gardens, the new concert hall will also include the preservation and renovation of the existing building. The lobby will function as a public plaza, while the rooftop terrace overlooks the city's Church of All Saints.

“Russia has been a formative influence on Zaha Hadid Architects’ creative work,” said Christos Passas, Project Director at Zaha Hadid Architects, in a statement. “From very early in her career, Zaha was attracted to the Russian avant-garde who conceived civic spaces as urban condensers that catalyze 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.”

Check out a video of the project below.

All images courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects.

Project credits

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