The firm Zaha Hadid Architects has turned out the winner in the international competition to build the new Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall in Yekaterinburg, the Russian city considered the capital of the Urals. Drawing inspiration from the physical aspects of sound waves, the volume’s form defines the spaces where reverberation disappears and sound flows. The main auditorium and the chamber music hall – seating 1,600 and 400, respectively – are suspended under a large canopy that cantilevers to protect a new public plaza. Glass facades blur the boundaries between interior and exterior and give views over the Weiner Gardens.