Innovation Special Planetariums 9 - Carl Zeiss Planetariums

The New Cultural and
Educational Center
with Planetarium
in Yaroslavl
Ilya Klyagin, Architect
Ludmila Gileva, Project Manager
Andrey Lobanov, Technology Advisor
The “Valentina Tereshkova” Cultural and
Educational Center was inaugurated on
April 7th, 2011. The city of Yaroslavl
thus received the first planetarium built
in Russia after the end of the Soviet era.
38 Innovation Special Planetariums 9, 2012
The architecture
The architecture is determined by two
given facts: the center’s unique function
and its unique situation. The site is surrounded
by architectural masterpieces of
past centuries.
To adapt the building to this environment,
we based the project on a “monastery”
principle, with units of various
styles from different eras being united
by a common function and harmonized
by some specific spatial elements. The
complex is composed in a manner that
resembles the architecture of the surrounding
buildings and harmoniously
blends in with the outstanding specimens
of traditional Russian architecture
in the immediate vicinity. Thus, the new
edifice pays tribute to the history of the
place rather than dominating it.
The planetarium building consists of
four characteristic elements:
• The observatory tower is a separate
unit, rising out of a stepped substructure
in a way similar to the bell tower of an
old Russian cathedral.
• The main façade of the administration
building features two levels of white
concrete and glass, which contrast superbly
with the white textured stucco
surface of the tower.
• The glass dome covers the projection
dome, leaving a space between the
two domes that is used as a gallery. It
is particularly evocative at night when
the inner dome is lit by LEDs in various
colors and adopts the futuristic shape of
a sphere of light floating in space.
• The stepped substructure with the
foyer is partly set back.