Arts & Culture \ Theatre in Augsburg Bavaria

Limited competition. Unbuilt. 

In 2006, the practice was invited to participate in a limited competition in the Bavarian town of Augsburg. The brief was unusual; a fixed seat proscenium theatre with no flexibility and no alternative functions! The site was a small gap site alongside the surprisingly large existing Neo-Classical opera house (sic: this in a city the size of Dundee). Back stage had already been designed for the competitors to incorporate so that it linked through to the back stage of the opera. An onion domed church spire looked down on the site.

The auditoria was expressed as a semi-circular building wrapped by the foyer and viewed through a mostly glazed facade from the street; a “building inside a building”. The foyer was extended to be a vertical event as a cascade of steps (inspired by those found leading to the chapter house at Wells Cathedral)  and this would have continued up the side of the auditorium giving access to all levels and all other public facilities. A sight line organised to be viewed when climbing the stairs focused on the onion dome through a circular oculus roof-light.

We didn’t win the competition, but we have noticed that nothing has been constructed on the site since.