141 Schauspielhaus Zürich – Herzog & de Meuron

Competition: 1996

The starting point is a narrow block occupied by an old, protected boat building shed. This area is influenced by many different uses with partially common but diverse interests. For us, this tightly shared space of so many uses and users is a great advantage for creating an interesting building. It should at the same time be a living place that grows whilst changing this part of Zurich, which owes its identity to industrial architecture and in which the linearity and repetition of industrial work is reflected.

The boat building shed is integrated into the project, the great new roof embraces the present boat shed roof; the space between the roofs is used as a service area for ventilation, soundproofing, darkening and sign writing.

The roof has an iconographic significance that tends to conceal and reveal heterogeneous pieces, it is only a classical gable roof from a distance. On approach, one perceives a photographic image over the great concrete roofing and the part of the wall that hangs down. It is a life-size display of the Pfauentheater proscenium arch and tells us that the stage is reproduced in a sculptural form inside the building. A theatrical piece like a stage, or a piece of architecture like a neo-classical Grisaille painting? A window onto the theatre or a window onto the world? The architecture for the new cultural centre is not only a symbol – it is in itself a part of the complex, urban design of the post-industrial city that is emerging here.

The warehouse conservation only makes sense when its space remains as unchanged and open as possible, with the result that the interior of the boat shed, where the museum, restaurant, foyer and alternative theatre are housed, can only function as a large public, urban precinct. We consciously juxtaposed the aperture and generosity of this public space against the densely packed floors of the work centres. This is where all of the private spaces are set – the offices, studios, storerooms and rehearsal rooms. They are grouped around the assembly rooms, which are cut out like a void in the building. This second empty space works as an orientation point, like the boat shed, or like a sort of meeting point in the work centre.

The large gable roof shelters all users under its eaves, even covering part of the boat building shed. It conceals a section of its old brick facade but reveals a visible part, which will become the focal point of a new, reinforced perception; the boat shed architecture will be displayed to the passerby like an object d’art belonging to the new art museum.

Herzog & de Meuron 1997

Process

The concrete cover of the new roof connects a new building and a historically protected shipbuilding hall and additionally serves as a billboard wall.

The historic hall as a public space with museum, restaurant and foyer. Audience room and stage of the Zurich Schauspielhaus.

A model for thinking: the project as a modular construct of various parts.

Drawings

Team

Partners: Jacques Herzog; Pierre de Meuron; Christine Binswanger; Harry Gugger
Project Team: Andrea Bernhard; Stephan Derendinger; Robert Hösl; Hans-Ulrich Matter; Lukas Huggenberger; Rémy Voisard

Facts

Client: Neue Schauspiel AG, Zürich
Building Data: Gross floor area (GFA): 258'333 sqft, 24'000 sqm; Gross volume (GV): 5'085'316 cbft, 144'000 cbm
Links: www.schauspielhaus.ch

Bibliography

Gerhard Mack, Herzog & de Meuron: “Herzog & de Meuron 1992-1996. The Complete Works. Volume 3.” Edited by: Gerhard Mack. Chinese ed. Beijing, China Architecture & Building Press, 2010. Vol. No. 3.

Fernando Márquez Cecilia, Richard Levene (Eds.): “El Croquis. Herzog & de Meuron 1981-2000. Between the Face and the Landscape. The Cunning of Cosmetics. Entre el Rostro y el Paisaje. La Astucia de la Cosmética.” 2nd adv. and rev. ed. Vol. No. 60+84, Madrid, El Croquis, 2005.

Wilfried Wang: “Herzog & de Meuron.” 3rd adv. and rev. ed. Basel / Boston / Berlin, Birkhäuser, 1998. (= Studiopaperback).