Keep Repair Add

The operation of theaters has changed significantly over recent decades. Audience habits of listening and viewing have evolved: theaters have “lifted the fourth wall,” repeatedly moved away from the central perspective of the proscenium stage, and created immersive spaces. Outreach formats and community stages have emerged; concerts are held, and paint shops have been converted into studio stages. Theater practitioners like to claim they are opening up “third spaces.” Yet the spatial design of theater buildings has scarcely reflected these developments — unlike the evolution of libraries. Why is that? And how could this be changed?

Experts from politics and culture are deeply concerned with this complex of issues, but there is hardly any open or public discourse about it. Instead, cities across the country are committing to financially ambitious renovation projects in order to preserve or restore the status quo ante in many theater and orchestra buildings in need of repair. If renovations prove impossible or fail, entirely new buildings are quickly demanded and planned.

But what would a genuine transformation of existing structures look like? Is there a third path beyond the polarity of renovation versus new construction? What conditions would be necessary for this? How would feasibility studies, project briefs, and preliminary assessments need to be designed? How could users be integrated into the building process? And what would a correspondingly sustainable process of continuous development look like — extending even beyond construction phases 9 and 10?

These questions are the focus of the initiative Reconstructing cultures and the transformation of theatre construction, a collaboration between Kampnagel International Culture Factory, cultural experts, the German Architecture Museum (DAM), the International Theatre Institute, the German Stage Association, the Schader Foundation, the DFG project Theater Space at HTWK Leipzig, Urban Design at HCU Hamburg, TheaPro, and other experts.

Initiative on Cultures of Reconstruction and the Transformation of Theatre Building

These questions are the focus of the Initiative on Cultures of Reconstruction and the Transformation of Theatre Construction – a collaboration between the ITI, Kampnagel International Cultural Factory, cultural experts, the DAM German Architecture Museum, the German Theatre Association, the Schader Foundation, the DFG project ‘Theatre Space’ at HTWK Leipzig, the Urban Design department at HCU Hamburg, TheaPro and other experts.

The framework for this exploration is a two-year journey across parts of the German theatre landscape. Following stops in Hamburg and Dresden, the research will take the team to Munich, Nuremberg, Mannheim, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Darmstadt. Cultures of renovation will be discussed in both public and private settings, and selected construction projects will be examined.

Upcoming dates

21 to 23 October 2026
Munich/Nuremberg
Visit to the HP8 and the Volkstheater in Munich, as well as the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg

Funded by the Performing Arts Fund.