  Optimization problems with constraints in the form of a partial differential
equation arise frequently in the process of engineering design. The
discretization of PDE-constrained optimization problems results in large-scale
linear systems of saddle-point type. In this paper we propose and develop a
novel approach to solving such systems by exploiting so-called quasiseparable
matrices. One may think of a usual quasiseparable matrix as of a discrete
analog of the Green's function of a one-dimensional differential operator. Nice
feature of such matrices is that almost every algorithm which employs them has
linear complexity. We extend the application of quasiseparable matrices to
problems in higher dimensions. Namely, we construct a class of preconditioners
which can be computed and applied at a linear computational cost. Their use
with appropriate Krylov methods leads to algorithms of nearly linear
complexity.
