Russia’s Pushkinsky Cinema Hall in Moscow has received a new exterior cladding as part of a major renovation competition entitled ‘Changing the Face’.

E-Architect.co.uk reveals that the competition’s aim was to create a “landmark of the future”, whilst still retaining design elements of the past. It also lent architects the chance to think about how the theatre hall “engages with the public from its prominent position in Pushkin Square.”

Cellular style structure that wraps around the old facade

According to World Interior Design Network, The Pushkinsky, famous for being one of Moscow’s most popular attractions and host of the annual International Film Festival, achieved this by adopting a brand new solid cellular style structure that wraps around the old facade.

This allows for certain amounts of light to pass through woven glass portholes, which, depending on the position of the sun throughout the day, offer a glimpse into the past structure’s design.

Winning design proposal – landmark of the future

Changing the Face, hosted by science-based products company DuPont, the Union of Architects of Russia, YEM, RIBA and Architizer, had to select the winning design proposal from 512 entries submitted by 1002 architects from 62 different countries.

The new Pushkinsky design was chosen in June at the Central House of Architects in Moscow by an international panel of judges from the architectural world that included: Andrey V. Bokov, head of the Union of Russian Architects; Aleksey Uchitel, film director and Marc Kushner, architect winner of Changing the Face in 2010.