Images: Pushkinsky Cinema 50 years back and now

“changing the face” – Pushkinsky cinema

The aim of the competition is to redesign the facade of the existing building - not to restore it to past glory but to create a landmark of the future.

Redesigning the Pushkinsky Cinema Hall is a chance to give this theater a design befitting its position at the center of Russia’s cultural life. It is also an opportunity to rethink how the theater engages with the public from its prominent position in Pushkin Square.

The “changing the face” competition aims at demonstrating that changing the facade of once great buildings is not a mere superficial change but it is a modification that can dramatically revitalize landmarks and change the dynamics of public space. The concept was first proposed in 2008 within a workshop dedicated to the Colosseum in Rome and was later developed in Bucharest, Prague, Zagreb and Athens. In every city, architects were asked to work on a controversial public building selected by DuPont in collaboration with local institutions. 

The architects are asked to work in a creative way without prejudices and restraints, creating a new facade for the Pushkinsky cinema, incorporating modern architectural solutions in the original, historical built-up area.

The only condition set by the organizers is the use at least one of DuPont materials, from DuPont™ Corian® high-tech surface for exterior cladding to DuPont™ SentryGlas® and DuPont™ SentryGlas® Expressions™ interlayers for structural and decorative laminated glass, from DuPont™ Tyvek® advanced membranes for the building envelope to DuPont™ Alesta® architectural coatings and DuPont™ Teflon® architectural fabrics and surface protections for decorative coatings.

All the projects will be evaluated by an international Jury: Andrey V. Bokov, Head of Union Of Russian Architects/ Sergey A. Skuratov, Senior architect with ‘Sergey Skuratov Architects’/ Aleksey Uchitel, Film Director/ Kerem Erginoğlu, Senior architect with ‘Erginoğlu&Çalışlar Architects’/ Corrado Tibaldi, Senior architect, DuPont/ Matthias Hollwich, Winner CTF 2010/ Marc Kushner, Winner CTF 2010.

Prizes: 1st – 10 000 Eur, 2nd – 5000 Eur, 3rd – 3000 Eur

Further information available at www.changingtheface.com

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