Schauspielhaus, 1821, Germany Berlin, Greek Revival/NeoClassical Architecture, Karl Friedrich

Schauspielhaus

History

The Schauspielhaus was part of a grandiose new scheme of town planning in Germany, Berlin in the year 1818. Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, a scene designer and romantic painter, the schauspielhaus was designed to be built as a theater. Although it was completed in 1821, the function of the building changed. During the French revolution it became the house of the Prussian national assembly for several years. After the first world war, its usage changed to a concert hall. During the second world war, the building was severely damaged by allied bombing to a point that it had to be rebuilt. It was in 1977 that is was finally reopened and in 1984 it reopened as a "Gala Concert Hall". [1]

Architecture

The building is design in a mix of Greek revival and Neoclassical architecture. You can tell its Neoclassical origins by its grandeur in scale, simplicity of forms, and use of the Greek order [4]. This are all evident in the grand entrance stairs and monuments that are on the structure. The façade is monumental consisting of simply shapes and layers of walls that showcase the horizontal size of the structure. Having an ionic portico standing on the fleet of stairs, the building resembles the Pantheons main entrance and is a nod to Greek revival with its columns and perdiments. Design for a temperate climate, it has windows on all sides for ventilation in the hot months. The interior of the building is a lot more refrained from the outside. The interior is very similar to that of the Pantheon, but instead it is more spread out. You can tell that Schinkel got inspiration from the pantheon, since when you look at the plans at its core you can break it down to it starting with the portico and the drum.  The only shape that stands out is the grand dome that make up the main theater area, other than that Schinkel creates order around it with the use of simple symmetrical shapes. Its as if it restrains itself from forming into a cruciform shape.

There is no natural light that comes in the theater, so the inside is lit up by dozens of chandeliers. Inside unlike the outside everything is heavily ornamented. This breaks away from the pure simple architecture from the outside.  Inside the main theater area the ionic columns serve as support, although due to the change in detail from the inside and out the columns seem out of place against tall of the details on the walls, balconies and ceiling. Symmetry is still been kept throughout the details and follow the grid of the columns. Most of the program is clustered in a chaotic but orderly shaped on the right of the structure. On the left there seems to be a free space for another purpose. Towards the back, the portico and arrangement of columns is repeated, although without the grand stairs and in doing so diminish the monumental effect that the front seems to create.

Cited Works

[1] "Schauspielhaus (Theater), Gendarmenmarkt, Mitte, 1821 : Karl Friedrich Schinkel." A & U: Architecture & Urbanism, no. 8, Aug. 2016, pp. 26-27. EBSCOhost, arktos.nyit.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bvh&AN=756504&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

[2] “Schauspielhaus by Karl Friedrich Schinkel at GreatBuildings.” GreatBuildings, www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Schauspielhaus.html.

[3] Theatre Database / Theatre Architecture - Database, Projects, www.theatre-architecture.eu/db.html?theatreId=386.

[4] Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Neoclassical Architecture.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 11 Apr. 2013, www.britannica.com/art/Neoclassical-architecture.