Deborah Trudewind

The city of Cologne is going to rebuild its theatre. During the construction period an alternative playhouse will be needed.

Location:
The ideal location for the alternative playhouse is the former Deutzer Werft. This inner-city undeveloped area offers good accessibility and a prominent location, both good opportunities to host spectacular architecture.

Formfinding:
The optically and technically provisional building limits the production to its roots - voice and movement. Therefore the formfinding is also based on these two aspects.

Voice:
The recording of vocal exercises visualised by a media-player resulted in the building’s base area. Illustration of the reverberations made it possible to push the previously generated 2D lines up and create a 3D wave form.

Movement:
The actors’ movements during the performance will be recorded, and through big floodlight spots, projected onto the western façade.

Building:
The structure will be made up of eleven waves, piled up to a maximum height of 24m. The airy roof skin will create a tent-like feeling, which, together with the reusable construction, will emphasise the building’s temporary nature. Located under this cover will be the theatre box, which will create the necessary separation from the outside world. The secondary areas will be accommodated in containers. That will produce free space, which can be used for a variety of occasions.

Target audience:
The target audience will be frequenters of the Kölner Bühnen, and new visitors drawn by the spectacular architecture and the attraction of the temporary construction.

Materials:
The “Play for Time” will be built of mainly reusable and lendable materials. The construction will consist of the following components: crane, stage, and scaffolding works. The theatre’s external box walls will consist of concrete Lego bricks. Nearly all elements can be assigned to new tasks at the end of the season.

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