Six architects have been invited to participate in an international competition set by the Kremlin for the rebuilding of the Mariinski theatre in St Petersburg. The move has been made in response to the controversy regarding the design by American architect Eric Owen Moss, winner of the competition set in 2001.
Moss’s design received some strong reactions (it was immediately christened “the rubbish bags”) and the opposition of the architectural authorities: Valery Gergiev, after an initial declaration of support, then said he supported the idea but not the design; city architect Oleg Kharchenko branded it as “a glass structure with no form”; whilst the minister for culture took a neutral position accompanied by a declaration of willingness to set a new competition.
So, seven months after the disagreements, the new architects invited to compete are: Mario Botta, Arata Isozaki, Dominique Perrault, Erick van Egeraat, Hans Hollein… and Eric Owen Moss himself.
The project by Moss presented on 17 February 2002. Alongside the existing structure another building is planned of almost the same size. The design, a billowing glass and blue granite structure, was called ‘the rubbish bags’
The second project by Moss in St. Petersburg would transform the New Holland Storehouses into a large theatrical and cultural complex to be connected to the Mariinski Theatre by a bridge across the canal
