The results of the contest for the lighting for the facade of the East Wing of the General Staff Building

On 26 February 2013, a press conference dedicated to the results of the competition for the lighting for the facade of the East Wing of the General Staff Building, conducted jointly by the Hermitage and the Phillips Company. The press conference included a speech by Svetlana Borisovna Adaksina, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage Museum, the head custodian, and Peter van Berkel, the Head of Philips Lighting in Russia and the CIS.

In 2012, an open nationwide contest entitled “The Hermitage in a New Light” was held, at which 129 project groups were presented from 27 cities in Russia, as well as several participants from Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Great Britain and Germany. Based on the results of this contest, a panel of judges head by M.B. Piotrovsky, the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum, chose the victors. The grand prize was received by a concept presented by a working group STK MT Electro, Yekaterinburg, which will serve as the basis of a large-scale and technically complex project for lighting the facade of the East Wing of the General Staff Building.

“The General Staff Building is a museum space with a new format, in which modernity enters into dialogue with 250-years of Hermitage traditions. We are very pleased that the lighting designers have reflected that feature in their designs. In selecting the victory, we searched for a concept in which a new lighting solution not only carefully emphasizes the historical fac,ade of the architectural landmark, but also shows its classical beauty from a new point of view,” noted M.B. Piotrovsky.

“The Hermitage in a New Light” contest is an unprecedented initiate. Any Russian light designer could propose his plan for lighting the building. That profession is not very widespread in Russia, and therefore it is especially important for us more than one hundred beginning and professional Russian light designers participated. We are glad that we could share this unique opportunity to remake an urban space and give students a chance to promote themselves,” said Arjan de Jongste, the General Director of Philips in Russia and the CIS. “I would like to emphasize that we have received high-quality, well thought-out concepts. They show a deep analysis of the task at hand, a desire to show the architect’s concept and emphasize the artistic expressiveness of the facade of the General Staff Building.”

Among the professional light designers, the grand prize for the best work with the potential for the design to be used and a designer’s award of 100,000 rubles was received by the working group of the STK MT Electro bureau, Yekaterinburg, light designer Natalia Koptseva and lighting technician Vasily Tarasenko.

Among the students, in the category “best design by a beginning lighting technician” the winner was Nadezhda Istomina, Moscow, Moscow Institute of Architecture, receiving a trip to the Philips lighting technology centres in Holland. Her design, “from Classic to Contemporary” was also noted in the journal Tatlin.

In the “for a creative approach” category, the first was Anna Grudinkina, Moscow, Moscow Institute of Architecture, for her design “Mixture. Displacement”. Anna will have the opportunity to visit the Festival of Light in Lyon, France.