DRAMA! (Temporary)

Researching the potentials of a temporary theatre space due to the renovation of the main building, the project proposes a temporary venue of The Slovenian National Theatre. Using the shipping containers as main building blocks, taking into account the logistical limitations of an ephemeral theatre, it re-invents the theatre of the 21st century.

Temporary Drama is an experimental theatre space with an important visual presence in the context of the city of Ljubljana. During the renovation, it preserves The National Theatre as one of the most important cultural institutions in the country and beyond through its physical manifestation and representation in the form of a temporary building. At the same time, it serves an important social function as well – it acts as a new programme generator and a vehicle of revitalization, a new point of interest in the city, a space of socializing and a cultural hub. The project uses shipping containers as main building blocks – already owned by The National Theatre and used for transporting and archiving scenography or acting as storage units. A compact composition of shipping containers on the ground floor creates a service area with dressing rooms and spaces for performers and technical workers – a hidden part of the theatre, a 'bellow-stage' located under the main acting space. Above it, columns of shipping containers carry the roof with suspended loggias for spectators, forming a main, uniform acting space. This space allows for infinite variations and different formats of theatre plays and in this way establishes a new, contemporary relationship between actors and spectators through the new possibilities. The visual presence of the building in the context of the city is twofold: it appears monumental when the main facade curtain is open, allowing for the views inside and revealing itself as a ‘theatre machine’ giving passers-by the insight into the raised acting floor and inviting them in; when the need for more insulation – visually, thermally or in terms of sound – arises, the curtain drops and creates a curious architectural object that is uniform and abstract at the same time. Temporary Drama is first and foremost a contemporary theatre space created out of found objects, a ready-made of sorts, providing a cost-efficient, functional as well as specific, representative and attractive ephemeral piece of architecture.