Portuguese architect designs “falling leaf” open air theatre in Ukraine

Portuguese architect Eric Rodrigues has won an international design competition to redevelop the Sylvan Theatre, a derelict open-air performance space in the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy.

The theatre was built in 1967 in the city’s main park, and has now been abandoned. The campaign to bring it back into dramatic production it was launched by a community group, who began a fundraising campaign to pay for the work, and to offer $1,000 to the winner of an international design competition.

The brief called for a design that would not require the cutting down of the park’s pine trees, and which used natural and locally sourced materials as far as possible.

The timber roof of the theatre is designed to look like a falling leaf, and its sloping shape is intended to improve the acoustics of the 700-seat auditorium.

Images via Eric Rodrigues