Perrault withdrew from the Théâtre Mariinsky II project in St. Petersburg

Internet news Russian-Aktuell on January 29, 2007, reported that the French architect Dominique Perrault is withdrawing from the project to expand the famous Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. The reason was said to be that while construction was to proceed according to Perrault's design, the execution documentation and construction supervision were already to be taken over by a Russian design office. Perrault won the international competition held three years ago with his golden dome. Since then, the design has undergone several changes.
Perrault's departure officially occurred by mutual agreement. However, there was tension and anger behind the scenes: initially due to delays (the construction was supposed to be completed by next year), there were ambiguities in the statics of the outer shell (the main load-bearing structure and golden strips were becoming thicker and thicker), and finally, there was a lack of construction permits. At the end of last year, the local building authority prepared an expert report mentioning alleged deficiencies in the plans. Perrault had already expressed in the press the suspicion that behind the expert report lay an intention by some state officials to remove him from the project and continue plans with another design office. A small consolation for Perrault may be that he retained all copyright and author supervision rights. Link>