Cultural space made of containers is now in Murmansk

In July 2022, Murmansk hosts the second Arctic Urban Art Festival “Growth” aimed at the aesthetic development of the city’s residential districts, so called ‘bedroom communities’. As part of the festival, the polar city will be decorated with several new murals, and small architectural forms will be made on its streets, reports goarctic.ru in a news story about the event. One of the venues for the event is a unique art-space “Container Hall” that is the first cultural centre in the Arctic made from sea containers and it opened its doors to visitors at the end of June. On July 10, the grand opening of the festival took place at the Container Hall.
The cultural centre assembled from twelve container modules includes a stage, amphitheatre and an open-air cinema. In addition, there is a place for a cafe-bar, multifunctional venues for exhibitions, rehearsals, and performances. The modular approach used in the construction of the Container Hall allows to make various functional spaces, combining or separating them as needed. The art-space will also be open in winter as the premises are heated.
The Russian Arctic is looking for its new face and the gloomy aesthetics of the settlement outposts typical of the Arctic cities that appeared during the first wave of the development of the Arctic is gradually receding further into the past. A significant factor influencing the psychological climate of any city is the design and meaning of the environs and landscape, and the Russian polar cities are no exception. Moreover, this issue is of particular importance in the North and it is necessary to ‘weave’ new elements of comfort, creativity and coziness into the urban space to increase the attractiveness of the cities as a place for human life and self-development. All the more important are the initiatives like the one launched in Murmansk.