StattTheater

„...die Stadt macht Theater stattStadttheater.“

Joseph Eckhart
Entwurfsarbeit, 2016/17
Architektur | Urbanistik  The Odeion was once the center for performance and listening, a style of theater so to say.Moreover, the theater has always been a political stage, where one could voice and presentideas to the public. the audience sat in stadium seating with a stage below. One was there tolisten and to escape. This separation of audience and stage helps to reinforce the concept ofescapism. This idea was challenged throughout history, most notably by the works of ErwinPiscator, Bertolt Brecht, and Friedrich Kiesler. They strived to ruin this escapism through theirplaywriting, set design, and theater concepts. Known as „epic theater,“ they relied heavily onthe use of the estrangement effect to hinder the audiences ability to simply identify themselveswith the characters in the play. They achieved this through flooding the entire theater withlights, having actors play multiple roles, rearranging the set in full view, costume changes onstage, and breaking the „4th wall“. By doing this the actors alienate the viewer from anypassive acceptance and enjoyment of the play as mere „entertainment.“ Rather the viewer isforced into a critical, analytical frame of mind that serves to disabuse him or her of the notionthat what he or she is watching is necessarily an inviolable, self contained narrative. It teachesthe viewer not to take what the style and content for granted. A theater which can facilitatethis is what I set out to accomplish. One which breaks down the 4th wall through it‘s form,intertwines the audience and actors, and is completely exposed for what it is and what it offers. The theaters are placed on various levels into the earth with one side opening out onto thesquare of the agora surrounding the building. After following a slight ramp into an cracksticking out of the square, one finds them self in the „Backstage Foyer“ of the theater. A largeroom where the stages push out of the walls in all directions and at different heights. Thisspace acts as the connection between auditoriums, an entry to the building, backstage area, aswell as a theater within itself. The visitors are forced to come in contact with the actors andvice versa. They are exposed to every aspect of the theater. Bridges criss cross the roomconnecting every stage and guiding the audience along a journey. Dieser Entwurf ist ein Ergebnis aus dem Entwurfsprojekt AGORA! Architektur und Politik.