De Spiegel - Theatre architecture as a mirror of experience

De Spiegel theatre in Zwolle, designed by Greiner Van Goor Architecten, is a theatre that has no equal in the Netherlands. It’s the culmination of almost fifty years’ experience in theatre building. The assignment included the construction of a multifunctional auditorium. As opposed to similar auditoriums, in which a concert hall was always the basic tenet, here the reverse was true. The architects built an intimate theatre auditorium, with a basic, classic shape reminiscent of an egg. Its shape – ellipsis-like in the longitudinal section, round in the traverse section – generates a feeling of intense proximity. Thanks to an ingenious technique, however, it is also possible to position the ceilings in such a way that a high-quality concert hall is created, suitable for symphony orchestras with natural acoustics. Architecture publisher Hilde de Haan describes the background and development of the theatre, and provides an assessment after the theatre’s first year in use.