Haus der Berliner Festspiele was opened in 1963 as a repertory theatre under the name ‘Theater der Freien Volksbühne’. The first director was the legendary Erwin Piscator. Built by renowned architect Fritz Bornemann, it is considered one of the finest German theatre buildings of the postwar period.
 

The theatre organizes several theatre festivals such as Theatertreffen, Internationales Literaturfestival berlin, spielzeit’europa, as well as music festivals such as MaerzMusik, musikfest berlin, JazzFest Berlin, and movie festivals such as Berlinale. The House is known for Theatertreffen, an annual festival that invites the best German language productions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland to perform in the theatre.

 

All stage technology systems were renewed and the theatre is now considered as one of the best receiving theatres in Germany.

 

The big challenge of this project was the construction in 3 phases with shows between these phases. This required a well- planned sequence of works including temporary measures such as the temporary use of mobile systems.

 

The flying machinery of the main stage comprises 81 motorised fly bar winches including side fly bars. The proscenium bridge is designed as a mobile unit and can be suspended from any 6 flying bars or be dismantled and divided into 3 parts for storage.

 

Flexible proscenium towers are also suspended from the flying bars, which can be adjusted to the position of the proscenium bridge. Mobile point hoist winches supplement the overstage machinery.

 

All lighting galleries in the fly tower as well as the fly grid have been completely redesigned and replaced. In addition, the steel girders of the roof were reinforced for higher loads.

 

All floor constructions of the side and rear stages as well as steel substructures of the main stage including the turntable were reinforced for a load capacity of 1000 kg/m2. The main, rear and side stages were acoustically decoupled.

 

The entire forestage area has been restructured and the fixed stage edge has been removed. All three orchestra elevators have been replaced and can now be fitted with seating wagons to increase auditorium capacity.

 

The safety curtain, which originally sat on the fixed edge of the stage, was  supplemented with a retractable lower part.

 

The drive system of the turntable was also renewed.

 

All production lighting and the white and blue light system have been replaced with modern network-based systems.

 

Audio and video systems and communication systems have also been updated. A voice alarm system has been installed throughout the venue.

 

The side stage has been converted and can now be used as a self-contained studio theatre with lighting galleries, flying machinery and production lighting and audio/video and communications systems.