Opening event: Friday, 24 January 2020, 7 p.m.
Duration: 25 January – 23 February 2020
Opening times: Tue, Thurs to Sun, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Wed, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Location: DAM, 2nd floor, House-in-House

An exhibition by the aac, supported by the Department of Culture and Science of the City of Frankfurt am Main. 

The 2019 autumn workshop of the aac Academy for Architectural Culture focused on the question as to what a design of a temporary home for the Frankfurt Opera could look like. International scholarship students developed designs for an interim opera house at Bockenheimer Warte which, together with the existing Bockenheimer Depot, could further enhance this area as a public cultural hub.

Many German theatres and opera houses are in need of substantial refurbishment and do not have the benefit of the latest stage technology. Therefore, numerous conversions or rebuilding measures will have to be undertaken by these state-owned cultural institutions in the near future. In order to ensure that these institutions can retain their high-quality ensembles and their subscribers and regular audiences during such refurbishment phases, it is necessary to find interim solutions with the help of which it is possible to continue the performance programme in pleasant surroundings. In this context the workshop focused on interim, a subject with much future relevance: the task at hand consisted of the design of an interim building for the Frankfurt Opera in the vicinity of the current location, i.e. at Bockenheimer Warte, which is three underground stops away.

Four cross-cultural groups have not only developed designs for an interim building, but have also created an ensemble including the Bockenheimer Depot, which dates from 1900, that would further enhance the area as a public cultural hub. Each of the proposed new buildings could accommodate the full range of the opera’s performance programme without significant functional shortcomings. Group 1 places the functions loosely and visibly within an open walk-on scaffolding structure. Group 2 developed a lightweight and transparent sculpture that, using folds, defines inviting urban spaces both in plan layout and in the façades. Group 3 makes the functions of the interim part of the public street space, similar to a shop window. Group 4 stacks the functions in a semi-transparent compact cube.

Workshop Board: Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Dipl.-Ing. Architect BDA Meinhard von Gerkan, Dipl.-Ing. Architect BDA Stephan Schütz with Dipl.-Ing. Architect Nicolas Pomränke
aac Team: Enno N. Maass, Annika Göttle, Anja Meding
Tutors: Annika Göttle, Prof. Philipp Kamps, Sona Kazemi, Anja Meding
Participants: Jiang Chenhao, Gabriela Cetrez, Indra Westmann, Leon Behnke, Luise Hartung, Andrea Maria Sastre Velásquez, Phan Minh Hoang, Omar Cicci, Philip Pascal Kürble, Tabea Oltmanns, Theresa Mörz, Tom Heiden, Vincent Sebastian Schmitt, He Xing Xin, Qiu Yanbing, Huang Yuqing

Photos: Moritz Bernoully