The Galiaskar Kamal Theater in Kazan is a significant phenomenon. Not only is it the first national theater of Tatarstan, housed in a strong modernist building – now considered “old”. But now a new, contemporary building has also been constructed on the opposite side of the lake, based on the design that won the 2021/2022 competition. The leaders: the renowned Russian firm Wowhaus. The “star”: Kengo Kuma. Despite numerous complications, the architects remained in informal contact throughout the entire process and did everything they could to see the concept through.

So, we are looking at a rare case in the history of contemporary Russian architecture: first, a building constructed according to the design that won a competition; second, with the participation of an international star – this is Kengo Kuma’s first realized project in Russia; and third, the authors being Wowhaus, a prominent Russian firm known for its many public architecture projects.

It’s hard to imagine what this process cost its participants – but the stars definitely aligned here.

We take a close look at the story and the result.

The theater was built in record time – timelines were further compressed during implementation – and closely follows the ideas proposed in the winning design of 2022. It was built almost entirely using Russian contractors and Russian materials. Without exaggeration, this is a new symbol of the city and the Republic of Tatarstan, a building whose function goes far beyond simply housing a set of modern stage venues. We believe that such buildings can transform both people and cities. That is why we are dedicating to it a long and detailed piece, in which we have attempted to cover its architectural features, the broader context, and how the Wowhaus team fought to precisely convey the image.