Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Berlin, Germany

The Haus der Berliner Festspiele is not an ordinary German theatre. This house organizes and produces not only single performances, but whole festivals, such as Maerzmusik, Spielzeit Europa and Theatertreffen. After the renovation this theatre will also be one of the premiere theatres for the annual International Film Festival Berlinale. The theatre presents a wide variety of productions sometimes home made, and also often made elsewhere. Functionality and user friendliness as well as flexibility are vital ingredients for this house.

The theatre chose a Dutch theatre consultant with experience in designing flexibility and with designing for a producing theatre. In the Netherlands after all, it is necessary for a theatre to be flexible if it has to be able to host all kinds of performances from opera to drama and from ballet to jazz. Another reason to hire Theateradvies was the approach towards sustainability. The renovation was paid for by the German government as part of a larger program to stimulate the economy. One of the goals of this program was to enable a more sustainable approach. Lastly a reason why Theateradvies was assigned the design was the experience of this company with film theatres.