The State Drama Theater "Shelter Komedianta" was founded in 1987 as a "theater of one actor", but rather quickly moved beyond the genre of solo performances and began to produce large-scale performances. In 1997, the theater received its own premises in the center of St. Petersburg - at number 27 on Sadovaya Street, where the "Empire" cinema was once located. At first, the premises of the former cinema "Shelter Komedianta" were enough, but the gradual expansion of the staff and the growing popularity with the public became for him, albeit a pleasant, but not an easy burden. The theater has "outgrown" the space at its disposal, and the issue of reconstruction has been discussed more and more often in recent years. At first, the "Shelter of the Comedian" planned to build on the existing building, but the current appearance of Sadovaya and the neighboring residential buildings vetoed a similar development scenario. And then the theater decided to reconstruct the existing premises, hoping to improve "living conditions" with the help of rational redevelopment. The design project was commissioned by the Studio 44 architectural studio, and the famous set designer Emil Kapelyush became its chief designer.
First of all, the architects had to solve a number of technical issues: to make the theater accessible to groups of spectators with limited mobility, to design a new roomy wardrobe, to reconstruct tiny bathrooms. One of the most pressing needs of the theater was also to enlarge the entrance foyer - today the building has only a narrow vestibule, and on the days of performances it is not crowded. The architects are expanding this space and decorating it with 2.5-meter stands on which the playbills will be placed. “There will be 16 such structures in total, and we propose to install them on guides in such a way that the stands can move in a circle,” says project architect Veronika Zhukova. “This will not only give the space of the foyer a certain theatricality, but also allow transforming it, decreasing or increasing the area of the room, if necessary”.
Keeping all the internal load-bearing walls (only in some of them niches and openings with the necessary reinforcements are made), the architects implement the desired redevelopment by dismantling the partitions and eliminating the workshops on the ground floor (they are taken out to another building). The wardrobe, which is now located directly opposite the entrance and consists of several fenced clothes hangers, the authors of the project propose to move to the space previously occupied by warehouses. It will be separated from the foyer by two square columns - these elements not only visually zone the space, but also help to structure the audience streams, that is, in other words, it is between them that queues will be lined up for delivery and receipt of outerwear, which will avoid the crush.
The interior of the distribution foyer is decorated with stone, which is supposed to finish the floors, and metal, intended for wall cladding. The smooth surface of the latter works like a mirror, visually expanding the room and filling it with additional light. However, the architects do not want to mislead the audience, so the edges of each panel are processed with decorative rivets. Two skylights are carved into the ceiling of the first floor foyer, and the lamps follow their rectangular shape.
A wooden staircase leads to the second floor. And if especially durable and practically materials of neutral colors dominate below, then the foyer of the second floor is interpreted as a space that is as bright and elegant as possible. Its walls, previously cleaned to the "native" brick, are painted in snow-white color and decorated with panels of golden metal - by the mysterious symbols applied to the artificially aged surface, sophisticated theatergoers can easily recognize the scenery that Emil Kapelyush invented for the play "Pro Turandot". winner of many theater awards.
The floors and benches for spectators in the upper foyer are made of light honey-colored oak, and a powerful wooden beam with bells pierces its space under the ceiling. As conceived by the authors, the abundance of wood emphasizes the affinity of the "Comedian's Shelter" with the ancient theaters of Europe, which were once all wooden through and through. But the bells will play a quite utilitarian role - they will invite spectators to the performance.
