Construction of new building of Kamal Theatre stuck in meetings

Terms of reference and layout project of territory under design

Six months after choosing the project of a new building of the Galiaskar Kamal, it became known at what stage it is now. As the press service of the theatre told Realnoe Vremya, the terms of reference for survey works for the new task are prepared:

“The company that won the international contest for the design of the architectural concept Wowhous is developing the project documentation, particularly a detail layout of main halls of the building — a big one designed for 600 spectators, a universal one for 200 seats, eastern, chamber and several rehearsal halls and necessary technical rooms, storage rooms, makeup rooms for artists. The theatre regularly holds meetings with the designers where all the details of the project are discussed.”

Meanwhile, workers of the Tatarstan Ministry of Construction, according to its press service, is developing a project of the territory where the new building of the Kamal Theatre. The site for it was chosen as early as a year ago — it is a land parcel between Khadi Taktash Street and Lower Kaban Lake. Also, the entrance to the future building will be improved too — Minnullin and Taktash streets are reconstructed at the intersection point with Salimzhanov and Nazarbayev streets for this. A fee-based car park and a separate bicycle lane will be created near the new building. The area planning and demarcation project already received an approval of an inspection.

The start of the construction of the new building of the theatre was planned to start this year, while the big staff of the Tatar academy theatre and its visitors were to begin using the new building in three years. The Kazan authorities haven’t yet decided what will happen to the existing building of the Kamal Theatre.

Futuristic building related to history of Tatars

It is known that the winner of an international contest for the architectural concept of the new building of the Kamal Theatre was chosen in mid-February 2022. It is a consortium chaired by Wowhous from Moscow including architects from Tokyo-based Kengo Kuma & Associates, Werner Sobek AG bureau from Stuttgart and Architect Bakulin German Alekseyevich’s Personal Art Workshop from Kazan. The contest itself was announced by the Kazan city administration in summer of 2021, 26 consortiums and 13 architects from 14 countries expressed their desire to create a project for the theatre and cultural centre of the capital. The jury chose only eight projects for the final.

The theatre in the project created by Wowhous has a lot of sharp glass roofs resembling the roof of the existing theatre. The new building will have two entrances, two storeys and a stage on the water besides classic stage platforms. Presenting their project in the contest, the authors noted that the view of the Kamal Theatre would change depending on the season of the year: in summer it will be surrounded by the park green, while in winter, for instance, it will resemble cracked ice. The project of the international consortium was different from other finalists with a modern futuristic appearance of the building, which is at the same time linked with the history of the Tatars.

Among the reasons why a new building of the Kamal Theatre was decided to be built in Kazan, there was named a lack of rooms for the theatre staff and the non-compliance of its public spaces with modern requirements. The construction of the existing building of the Tatar theatre near Lake Kaban in the capital of the republic began in 1972, the theatre company presented the first staging on the new stage only in January 1987.