"The New Riga Theatre is much more than a building. It is a story about the history of our recent times. A metaphysical phenomenon in the cultural and intellectual space of Latvia for more than the past twenty years. A truly complex and clever project of the highest social significance and visibility has been implemented in the painfully long process of transformation," described the LAGB 2024 selection jury. The New Riga Theatre ensemble is located in the historical center of Riga in a densely built-up area. Here, in 1902, with funds donated by entrepreneurs, the Riga Craftsmen's Aid Society building was built in one year according to the design of civil engineer Edmunds von Trompowski. The entrepreneurship of Latvian craftsmen marked the maturity of the people's self-confidence. In the courtyard of the house there was a metalworking company owned by a Baltic German family. Shortly after the building was built, the society began renting the large hall to theaters. Over the course of 120 years, 5 theater troupes have operated here, replacing each other at different times. On the first floor of the historic theater building was the restaurant “Eiropa” with a billiard room, on the second floor was a bank operating room, and on the third floor was a luxuriously decorated audience hall with a balcony and a stage. The factory buildings in the courtyard were added to the theater after World War II. They housed set workshops and a storage room, later the theater’s small and rehearsal halls, and a café with a terrace. The editorial office of the intellectual magazine “Rīgas laiks” moved into the second floor of the building. Since the fire in 1931, which burned down the audience hall, the theater building has not undergone any repairs. At that time, an elegant Art Deco-style audience hall, a new audience lobby, and a staircase were built according to the design of architect Artūrs Krūmiņš. The challenge of the project was to weave the theater ensemble between the high firewalls of the surrounding buildings, ensuring the functional program of a modern European theater – three audience halls, three rehearsal halls, scenery workshops and storage rooms, comfortable creative troupe and administration offices. A basement floor for scenery workshops was dug under the entire territory of the ensemble, two freight elevators and an audience elevator were built, and three new buildings were built in the courtyard. The stage of the historical hall was rebuilt according to world standard parameters with a gable tower. As a result of the reconstruction, the theater area was increased from 5145 m2 to 9767 m2. The most radical solution of the project is the relocation of the theater’s main entrance from Lāčplēša Street to the courtyard. The former tunnel of the building was expanded and created into a bright and inviting public arcade with advertising boards, and a protruding balcony with theater advertising the width of the sidewalk was placed above the entrance. The audience courtyard is designed as a quiet and green oasis in the city center with the main entrance to the theater in the depths of the courtyard. From the glazed entrance lobby, the audience is led to the right to the historic house with the Great Hall and to the left to the New Hall and the Small Hall. A staff courtyard has been created at the back of the territory with an entrance from Ģertrūdes Street. JRT Artistic Director Alvis Hermanis defines the principle of the theater – a house, in which the 100-person troupe is a family model, similar to an archaic Latvian farmstead: everyone does everything, creates everything and keeps it on site, nothing is thrown out. The project’s task is to connect the historical and added substance, and this is clearly defined and readable in both the language of forms and materials. The historical has been carefully restored, making maximum use of existing materials and building parts; the new one is designed in the industrial language of forms, reminiscent of a former metalworking factory. The added volumes are made of three materials – graphite gray metal, glass, yellow brick.