THE UNIVERSITY OF PERFORMING ARTS ERNST BUSCH 2018

The new main location of the Ernst Busch University of Performing Arts has been opened.
In close collaboration with the university O&O Baukunst has created a place which shows clearly how theatre functions.

The wood-clad, 24-metre high fly tower ensures that the building on Zinnowitzer Straße is recognisable from afar as a public place.

The complex consists of three parts: the old building dating from the 1950s, formerly an opera workshop, which was cut open at one short end, the wood-clad fly tower which was inserted into this cut, and the glazed box of the theatre café, which slides up against the side of the old building. The two new elements frame the entrance, which inside the old building expands to form a generously dimensioned foyer and becomes a work street that leads past the glazed props store and the workshops.

Here, as in the entire building complex, the character of this university is demonstrated. It is a lively place for improvisation and the development of other realities in life. The encounter between the rough and the refined and between old and new is shown in the interior by a separating line that extends through the building at a height of 2,30 metres. All the surfaces below this level are refined, whereas the elements of the building above it were left in the state in which they were found or were not given a finish.

Wood, a typical theatre material that is easy to use, is employed widely both inside and out in order to unify the various functional areas visually. Preserving the old building gave the freedom to design the new elements to suit their function precisely and in a way that expresses their use. The internally stepped fly tower offers a black box with perfect heights. Here the operation of the technology, which is usually hidden backstage, is visible on the external facade through the veil of the timber curtain.

Photos by Schnepp Renou, Harald Hauswald Horst Stasny, Euroluftbild.de and O&O Baukunst.

AWARDS:
ICONIC AWARDS 2019, Winner Kategorie Culture
Deutscher Hochschulbaupreis 2020, Preisträger
Architekturpreis Berlin 2020, Auszeichnung
GOV Design Awards 2020, Status Silber, Kategorie Architektur & Kulturbauten
DAM Preis 2021, Finalist
BDA Preis Berlin 2021, Preisträger
BDA Nike für Fügung, 2022