Practice will design 7.6ha redevelopment on New Holland Island in St Petersburg
Norman Foster is to design a major redevelopment of a 7.6 ha island in the centre of St Petersburg.
New Holland Island will become a major cultural centre for the city, with an outdoor arena surrounded by a theatre, conference facilities, galleries, a hotel, shops, apartments and restaurants.
Foster and Partners won the competitive bid to rebuild the eighteenth-century island yesterday.
A number of original structures on the triangular island, that was originally built for timber storage, will become a hotel and retail space.
A new continuous block around the edge of the site will house a complex of office space. It will use a system of natural ventilation and an energy system that, according to the architects, maximises the insulating properties of snow.
I am honoured and delighted to have this opportunity to make a dramatic intervention in the cultural life of the city.
Norman Foster
The outdoor arena will be used for performances but can be flooded for regattas or frozen to become an ice rink.
Norman Foster said: "I am honoured and delighted to have this opportunity to make a dramatic intervention in the cultural life of the city. "
"We aim to help St Petersburg to exploit the extraordinary legacy of its urban structure and historic buildings and to establish an arts quarter that will reinvigorate the city and consolidate St Petersburg's position as an international tourist destination."
