Festspielhaus Bregenz (AT)
New building,
Building in existing structures,
Refurbishment
Client: Stadt Bregenz, Land Vorarlberg, Republik Österreich
Location: A-6900 Bregenz, Symphoniker Platz 1
Architecture: Dietrich Untertrifaller
Project management: Susanne Gaudl, Heiner Walker, Albert Rüf
Competition: 1992, 1. prize
Construction: 1st phase: 1995 – 1997, 2nd phase 2005 – 2006, 3rd phase: 2022 – 2024
Area: 42,770 m²
Programme: 1st phase: New construction of lakeside studio, lakeside foyer, workshop stage and administration wing, 2nd phase: Refurbishment and extension of main building (large hall extended to 1,800 seats, building and stage technology, foyer), extension of lakeside grandstand to 7,000 seats plus lounge, 3rd phase: Expansion of infrastructure, new multi-purpose building, refurbishment of lakeside grandstand
Photos: Kurt Hoerbst, Bruno Klomfar, Kongresskultur Bregenz, Dietrich Untertrifaller
Team
1st phase: 1995 – 1997: Hermann Boss, Alex Fetz, Alex Früh, Susanne Gaudl (Project management), Albert Rüf, Herwig Teuschl
2nd phase: 2005 – 2006: Bernhard Breuer, Tobias Dieng, Susanne Gaudl (Project management), Felix Kruck, Heiner Walker, Thomas Weber
3rd phase: 2022 – 2025: Susanne Gaudl (Project management), Marcel Mathis. Dominik Österlein, Tamara de Sousa
Text: Gerlinde Jüttner
Partners
Statics: Mader & Flatz Plankel, Bregenz
Building services: Pflügl-Roth, Bregenz
Stage: Kottke, Bayreuth
Acoustics: Müller-BBM, Planegg
Lighting: Keller, St Gallen
Landscape: Vogt, Zürich
Master builder: Rhomberg Bau, Bregenz
Awards: 2010 Apex Award, Clients Award Vorarlberg, 2007 International Architecture Award
Like a city on a small scale
The renowned Festspielhaus on Lake Constance has been modernised, reorganised, greatly expanded and developed into a multi-purpose cultural, social and economic centre of international standing. The project impressively demonstrates how an unsightly conglomerate of buildings from the late seventies can be transformed into clearly structured and graceful architecture.
Thanks to extensive and precise pre-planning and prefabrication, we were able to realise the complex construction work, carried out in several stages, without interrupting operations. In the first stage, which lasted until 1997, the workshop stage, lakeside foyer and lakeside studio as well as an administrative wing were built.
In 2005, the festival theatre was renovated and extended. Guests are now greeted by a light-flooded glass façade and an inviting forecourt instead of grey concrete. The main foyer, Great Hall, foyers and lakeside gallery were redesigned and the building's technology was modernised. From 2022 to 2024, we refurbished the outdoor grandstand and Seebühne (Lakeside stage), updated the technology of the workshop stage and built a new multi-purpose building.
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