Volksbühne, a stage for the everyday
P.J.P. Vergeer (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
H.A. van Bennekom – Mentor (TU Delft - Building Knowledge)
M. Finagina – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
R. Heykant – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
P. de Ruiter – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Digital Technologies)
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Abstract
An architectural case study research into the design of a building for the performing arts as social infrastructure. Buildings for the performing arts typically focus on facilitating paid professional performance. This thesis expands the definition of performance, challenging the traditional separation between performer and audience and rethinking the conditions of a stage. This is explored through the concept of architectural membranes and with the aim to bring people of different backgrounds together. The case study for the project is the Volksbühne theatre in Berlin, an existing monumental theatre of which the name translated from German means ‘People’s Stage’. Originally founded in 1890 as an organisation to make theatre going accessible to the working class, nowadays it serves a homogenous audience of the ‘typical theatre goer’. The objective of this project is to explore if an architectural transformation of the monumental Volksbühne can rethink its identity and turn the building into a proper people’s stage and as such take on the role of social infrastructure in society. A place for the people of Berlin to see performance and be a performer.