The firms signed the contract following the success of the design competition in July 2009. The project is a 24,000 square meter dance theater, housing The Eifman Ballet, headed by the prolific choreographer Boris Eifman. The Dance Palace forms part of the European Embankment city quarter master plan for a new urban square in St. Petersburg.
The Dance Palace in St. Petersburg embraces the rich history of the world renowned Russian Modern Ballet within the historic setting of St. Petersburg. The signing of the contract is a milestone for the international and St. Petersburg teams. The team has to address the challenges of affordability and sustainability.
The design presents an open and inviting theater building with provision for 1300 guests. The building is designed to complement the existing neighboring buildings, which is achieved by both the scale of the building and the transformative transparency introduced by a facade system of triangular cladding panels.
UNStudio has extensive experience in theater design with recently completed projects including the Theatre Agora in Netherlands and the MUMUTH Music Theatre in Austria. UNStudio is also currently designing a new theater for Spijkenisse in the Netherlands.
