New Acting School Hannover

The proposal converts a vacant urban lot in the city center of Hannover into a new attractive urban site.The new building complex links the city level on the ground to the railway and the mainstation of Hanover on the upper level and allows the spectacle of departing and incoming trains and passengers to be part of the new urban fabric.

Like three actors on a stage three volumes on the upper level gather around a central courtyard of the new acting school. The courtyard on the one hand helps to bring light into the depth of the floorplan. On the other hand it is designed as a central multipurposed open space like a town square. During the week it functions as the outdoor space of the café, it could easily be used as an Open Air stage and auditorium, or a flexible workshop and seminar space.\nAll the needed backstage areas and changing rooms on the ground floor are positioned directly underneath the main hall and the studio stages on the upper floors - allowing for quick changes inbetween different acts or courses throughout the day. \nUnderneath the administration offices and smaller classrooms and workshop areas of the acting school, there is a café on the ground floor alongside the street. It is open to the public and welcomes visitors as well as students and teachers of the faculty at any hour. Visitors are welcome to immerse themselves fully into the world of drama, theater and acting and to also experience the world behind the stage, by visiting the workshops of scenery construction and costume tailoring. Highly reflective corrugated metal panels in the facade create a new mirroring back drop to the urban life of the passer buyer who through his reflection in the facade becomes part of the play called daily life.