Designboom: Tbilisi Rike Theater and Exhibition Hall among Top 10 Cultural Centers of 2016

Designboom, a famous international daily web magazine covering the fields of industrial design, architecture and art, has named the Tbilisi Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, located in the Rike Park in the center of the city, among the TOP 10 Cultural Buildings of 2016.

“Completed by Italian architecture studio Fuksas, this tubular structure belongs to the music theater and exhibition hall in Tbilisi’s Rike Park, Georgia. The distinctive funneled form was conceived as ‘a periscope to the city’, framing views of the river. Inside, the two volumes house a music theater and an exhibition hall,” the Designboom article reads.

The eye-catching cultural complex was built on the bank of River Mtkvari. Located within the city’s Rike Park, the building is composed of two sculptural tubular elements that both open up onto the adjacent green space. Connected via a shared retaining wall, the two volumes were built to house a 566-seat music theater and an exhibition hall.

The north part of the building contains the set up for the Music Theater Hall, with a foyer and other facilities, together with technical spaces for theater machinery and storage space.

The Exhibition Hall opens its great entrance with a ramp that brings visitors from street level while the Music Theater Hall is raised up to allow visitors in the foyer and cafeteria a view over the river and city skyline. It is a periscope to the city and looks towards the river, framing the historic core of the Old Tbilisi.

The complex is located close to a Public Service Hall, also designed by Fuksas, which was completed in 2012.

The construction process of the Theater and Exhibition Hall was launched in 2010 and is still ongoing.

The list of Top 10 Cultural Centers of Designboom also includes buildings from Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Italy, China, Greece and Taiwan.

Thea Morrison