The Canadian architectural firm Diamond and Schmitt Architects won the international competition to design the new Mariinsky II, Russia's first new grand-scale opera house since the Bolshevik Revolution. The firm's head architect, Jack Diamond, spoke in a recent interview about what St. Petersburg will gain from the Toronto-based company, sharing his views on architecture and how it is to work in cities with a precious historical context.

St. Petersburg would probably never have heard about the Canadian designers had it not been for a stroke of luck for the architecture firm. The Mariinsky artistic director, Valery Gergiev, was taken on an excursion around the Toronto Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, while on tour in Canada in 2007. The design by the firm Diamond Schmitt Architects combined all of the technical requirements of a modern Opera House including internationally acclaimed acoustics. The design features a lofty amphitheater, superb sound, and a unique theatrical ambiance. Most visitors equate the design to entering a comfortable house as the auditorium of the Toronto Opera is calm, soft, and enveloping and is often compared to a giant living room.

The impact of the newly designed Toronto edifice was instant and dramatic. Diamond is often stopped on the street by passers by that just wish to express thanks for the results of his design. When the orchestra played their for the first time, it was with tears in theirs eyes as they expressed amazement that such perfect acoustical effects could be achieved.

The audience's physical comfort is crucial for Diamond. In case of the Toronto Opera, the seats were modified seven times before he was satisfied with the result. Diamond Schmitt Architects paid special attention to the seats situated on the edges of the auditorium to ensure that there was not a bad seat in the house. Diamond always takes his guests to what should be the worst seat in the opera. He takes them up to the last seat on the top row, but they deny that the seat is bad, as there is still a good view and a remarkable clarity of sound.

St. Petersburg spectators can expect the same approach and attitude. By his own admission, Diamond is not an architect who "hits you in the eye" or goes for extravagant solutions. Nor does he tend to replicate the past. "If back in the 18th century St. Petersburg was replicating the past, you would have had a different city", the architect stated with a smile.

"St. Petersburg absolutely blows me away", Diamond said. "Apart from Venice, I have never seen a city with such consistent scale and such a consistent architecture. It is simply Amazing! "If you look at the most beautiful European cities, especially Italian cities, you see medieval gothic, classic, and modern-a generous variety of architectural styles all in the same city that create a rich impression". "So, we always look for contemporary expression that is harmonious with the city. I was most inspired by St. Petersburg's architectural landscape; it is phenomenal. It has a calmness and consistency about it that are genuinely inspiring. I love it."

Diamond admits that work on the Mariinsky designs was both challenging and time-consuming. "Remember that Ferrari was not the first car designed; it took a little bit of time," he said. "I have done a number of plans and thought about it, and I draw, and I change, and I sketch ... but it really evolves. The pressure of the competition has helped, too. I think it was Boswell who said, 'Hanging concentrates the mind wonderfully', so I really had to focus-and it came together."

Diamond further remarked that typical St. Petersburg architecture is a masonry base between three and six stories, crowned with a metal roof. The continuity is broken with porticos and columns, with the porticos providing relief. The Mariinsky II will have a masonry base and a metal roof, but instead of a portico, there will be glass bay windows giving audiences a stunning view over the canal and enabling them to see St. Petersburg in a fresh way. "The roof is a complicated roof, because I want a terrace so that people can take advantage of the white nights and enjoy the skyline from up there" the architect said.

Diamond's philosophy as an architect is to respect and be inspired by the city's context. "What you build in Jerusalem and what you build in New York is very different", he explains. "Every city has a different voice. But the underlying principle is always this: I make a virtue of a necessity. You know the beautiful flying buttresses on cathedrals, on Notre Dame in Paris, for example, that everybody admires-it was originally a structural solution aimed at reducing the thickness of the wall. There is no arbitrariness about it, but inevitability and then you celebrate that." Diamond does not believe in iconic architecture, as he feels it represents only one part of a design. "The form has to be delivered from what happens inside", the architect explained. "Design it from inside out and the outside in, and the resolution of the two, the context and the content, is what makes it good architecture."

As for my part if the new Mariinsky is as successful as the last one, it will be a very special place indeed and will only add to the luster of one of the most beautiful cities in the world.