Hamburg is planning to build a new home for the State Opera in the Baakenhöft area of HafenCity. The winning design by Bjarke Ingels Group envisages a completely new Staatsoper Hamburg building, which will take over the functions of the current building on Dammtorstraße. The investment is to be carried out on one of the piers forming the extensive Hamburg river port.
Architecture and design by BIG
The concept by the Danish BIG studio was unanimously selected in an international competition involving the city authorities, the Kühne Foundation and independent experts. The design presents a building that is visually and functionally open to its surroundings, with a roof and terraces accessible to all, offering views of the Elbe and HafenCity. Another important assumption was the clarity of the structure from the perspective of the water and the harbour quays. Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher emphasises that the new Hamburg State Opera is to provide the best possible conditions for artists and audiences and aspire to the status of an international institution.
The new Hamburg State Opera
The opera house has been designed as a series of concentric terraces that gradually rise around the main auditorium. Green roofs with trees, shrubs and grasses create a multi-level park that is accessible throughout the day without the need to purchase tickets. A walking route has been planned around the building, leading along the façade and roofs, allowing visitors to view the panorama of the harbour and the city from different heights and perspectives. The architects from BIG assume that the building will also be used intensively outside performance hours, as a place for daily relaxation, recreation and informal meetings for residents and tourists.
Interiors and functions of the building on the Elbe
The interior layout of the new Staatsoper Hamburg is centred around the main opera hall, designed for the best possible acoustics and complete comfort when listening to music. The studio’s concept features extensive use of wood and clear connections between the auditorium, foyer and backstage areas, which should make it easier to find your way around the building. The facility will also include smaller stages, rehearsal rooms, production workshops and exhibition spaces accessible from the ground floor. The organisation of functions is intended to provide insight into the process of creating performances and to shorten the distance between this important institution and its audience.
Staatsoper Hamburg – an outline of its history
Hamburg’s opera tradition dates back to 1678, when the first public opera house in Germany was opened at Gänsemarkt, established by the townspeople rather than the court. In the 18th century, this stage was one of the most important musical centres in Europe and was associated with the work of Georg Friedrich Händel and Georg Philipp Telemann, attracting artists from many countries. In the 19th century, the opera moved to the new Stadt-Theater, which was later modernised and expanded several times. The elegant building was destroyed in a series of bombing raids in 1943. In the post-war period, its reconstruction was abandoned in favour of the current headquarters of the institution on Dammtorstraße, which opened in 1955. Since then, the modernist building has served successive generations as a venue for premieres of works by contemporary composers and an important centre of musical life in Europe. A completely new building on the Elbe, on an incomparably larger scale, with greater possibilities and momentum, is to become the crowning achievement of this rich history.
Source: die-hamburgische-staatsoper.de, hamburg.de
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