A SIGHT IN THE SNOW

A frozen lake, Tartar culture and an evolved urban identity. The new Kamal Theatre by Kengo Kuma and Associates and Wowhaus in Kazan offers a nouveau outlook on the role of a theatre in a city

- BY NAMRATA DEWANJEE

What do two theatres have to say to each other? As I glance outside the window in Kazan, two forms anchor the frigid vista, separated by a snow-laden Millennium Park. Each reflects a time of its own. To the right, the grounded old Galiasgar Kamal Tatarian State Academic Theatre, with its origins in 20th-century Russia; to the left, across Kaban Lake, its counterpart. A shimmering new light of the future. This was where the Kazanysh forum took place, bringing together architects, designers, and thinkers from across the BRICS nations for a dialogue on design. Created by the Moscow-based Wowhaus architecture office in collaboration with Kengo Kuma and Associates, the new Kamal Theatre, at first glance, might seem in stark contrast to the kaleidoscopic traditional town. But a closer examination reveals that the shards of the theatre are inspired by the ice flowers on the frozen lak