Moscow was the focus of the Changing the Face competition by DuPont for 2011, in a mission to re-design the well known Pushkinsky Cinema in the city centre.

Changing the Face is an annual “open ideas” competition aimed at any architects, designers, builders and students who are willing to create a new identity for an existing building using DuPont materials.

The selected building is usually a well known landmark within the city that needs to be reconstructed or simply updated in tune with modern aesthetics.

This year, the attention was shifted to the “Pushkinsky Theatre” – a famous cinema, located at Pushkin Square in the heart of Moscow. It was originally built in 1961 to annually host the Moscow International Film Festival.

It has become a local landmark and was the template for all post-war performance halls in Russia.

Each year, 3 winners are selected from a high volume of applicants from around the world. Here are this year’s finalists:

1^st Place – “Frozen in Time” by Juan Andres Diaz Parra, Charlie Kentish and Evelyn Sam Soon (winners of €10,000)

This concept balanced a respect for the building’s heritage with a futuristic initiative. It was described as an “urban generator disguised as a natural phenomenon”. The design consists of elements that disperse water. In the summer these create a cooling mist around the building, and in the winter they form a faҫade of ice enveloping the exterior. The architects used a DuPont “Corian” techno-surface in the skin of the building, which allows it to react to temperature changes and also change the environment of the building.

2^nd Place – “Moving Light Palace” by Adrian Reinboth, Franziska Bottcher and Jenny Grossman (€5,000)

The “Moving Light” design connects the cinema with the surrounding Square with the electroluminescent wires that adorn the front of the theatre. They also reach out to the park square, creating an archway as a grand entrance. The wires change to suit the environment during the day. In the day they are translucent and reflective, resembling shaded glass, and at night they become illuminated and create a focal point of Pushkin Square. The strands were devised using Dupont “Teflon” which will prevent the wires from tangling. The idea of using electroluminescent lights also guarantees lower power consumption compared with other lighting technologies.

3^rd Place – “The Pushkinsky Jewel” by Joseph Sung (€3,000)

The “Jewel” establishes a direct link between the cinema and the urban atmosphere of the Square, encapsulating the building in a glass curtain with a ceiling that encloses the entire balcony space. This means that visitors can also enjoy a view of the square from inside the building. This concept was built with DuPont “Sentry glass” in mind to protect against extreme weather conditions. The glass would be coated in Low- E glass which will increase the overall energy efficiency of the building. Sentry glass is also durable and will resist water intrusion – remaining free from clouding and condensation.

The winning proposals were selected from 512 entries, submitted by 1002 architects from 62 different countries. Click here for a video containing more information about the Pushkinsky Cinema.