On July 13, 2026, Tbilisi City Hall issued a permit to dismantle Rike Park's tube-shaped Music Theater & Exhibition Hall. The complex, designed by the Italian firm Studio Fuksas, was never officially opened since its completion in 2012, around the same time as the firm's Tbilisi Public Service Hall. The design has been a source of controversy between authorities and citizens since its commission in 2011, when it was built during the government of the United National Movement (UNM), and was suspended after the change of government in 2012. The two structures, often referred to as the "Rike Tubes," were originally intended to house a music theater and exhibition space but remain to this day without any official use.

+ 1

+ 14

+ 22

Founded nearly 50 years ago in Rome, it is difficult to pin down an overarching theme in the work of Studio Fuksas: their designs have been built in North America, Asia and across Europe (with another design planned for Australia); they regularly operate at varying scales, from a colossal trade fair center and an international airport down to a small parish church; and their buildings all demonstrate huge stylistic variety. In this interview from Indian Architect and Builder's April 2015 issue, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas discuss the process behind their work, and the role of variation, context and concept in their designs.

Indian Architect & Builder: Did you always want to be an architect? Can you share with us your journey while discovering your commitment towards this field?

Massimiliano Fuksas: No, I never thought I’d want to be an architect. My early aspirations were to become a poet. The beauty of language, various forms of expression and prose always intrigued me. This ambition then evolved in to the desire of being an artist. Architecture was really my last choice. The thought of being an architect occurred to me only when I was around twenty. I was in university when I realized that architecture is probably the easiest and simplest interpretation of art and culture. As I continued my journey in the University of Rome, I began to develop a passion for this multifaceted field of knowledge. It was in my third year of university when I found my fervor for architecture and saw myself as an individual in the practice of architecture; a field that in one or more ways satisfied my earlier ambitions of being a poet and an artist.

+ 2

Italian architects Studio Fuksas have been selected, along with Canberra-based Guida Moseley Brown Architects, to design the Australia Forum, a new national convention centre in Canberra, Australia. Located at one apex of Central Canberra's Parliamentary Triangle, Studio Fuksas describe their design as a "completely transparent and permeable" volume which is "in constant dialogue with the urban context and the environment," integrating into the surrounding hills and the nearby Lake Burley Griffin by reflecting their presence in its skin.