October 28 2024
by: Marco Bouman

The grandeur of the theater is currently far from visible in the theater hall. Hans Verbugt, director of Musis & Stadstheater Arnhem, has to pause for a moment. All the chairs in the main hall are gone, as well as the wall paneling and the balustrades. “But I know what we’ll get in return.”

The Arnhem theater was closed to the public a little over a year ago for a renovation that is expected to be completed by the end of 2027. In the meantime, the building on Velperbinnensingel has been emptied and dismantled. Much of the interior has already been demolished, and part of the post-war canopy has been removed from the outside.

By early 2025, all the demolition work should be completed. In broad terms, everything added to the original theater from 1938 over the decades will be torn down in the coming months. The floor plans in the demolition company’s construction office clearly show this: black remains, red disappears. And there’s a lot of red. A lot.

However, those overviews tell only half the story. Because much of the ‘red’ will be reused. Demolition is also harvesting. And this involves more than just obvious monumental doors, chandeliers, and decorated windows that will return in the new Stadstheater, a design by Civic Architecture, Braaksma & Roos architectural firm, and Arup, which will cost over 70 million euros.

The new theater will be “a soft variant of the current building.” The dominant colors will be gold, blue, pink, and ivory. Stadstheater Arnhem will feature a large window as a “city balcony.” “Right now, you can read it as a building you can only look into. We want to bring people inside,” says municipal project manager Guus de Rijk. And in this new complex, elements from the old building will make a return.

This fits perfectly with the principle of circular building, which Arnhem is strongly committed to. For instance, workers from Dusseldorp Infra, Demolition, and Environmental Technology have carefully removed the ceiling of the Grote Foyer, piece by piece, using a multitool, explains project manager Akim Weenink. “Unfortunately, the slats turned out to be glued.” These slats will later be reused in the new theater’s cladding.

Reuse can also be temporary. For example, demolition wood is sometimes repurposed as construction wood. Beams that were freed up during the “harvesting” of the stage floors are being used to temporarily enclose spaces where asbestos testing is taking place. “This way, we don’t need to buy new wood,” explains Weenink. Concrete rubble will be processed into new concrete.

Meanwhile, about fifteen cultural institutions, such as Willemeen, Theater aan de Rijn, Theater Oostpool, and Introdans, as well as Theater Junushoff in Wageningen, are already benefiting from the renovation of the Arnhem theater. They are using theater equipment that has become redundant in Arnhem or will be replaced with modern equipment.

However, much of the old will remain at Velperbinnensingel. For instance, the characteristic blue chairs in the main hall will likely return. The manufacturer is currently investigating how the old chairs can be reused. “That’s a challenge,” explains De Rijk. “Because the main hall won’t get bigger, and we want to give people more comfort.”

The characteristic “baignoires” of Arnhem, cheap but now too cramped seats on the bathtub-like second balconies, will be removed for that reason. A great pity, says director Verbugt. But he doesn’t want to lose seats in the main theater hall. “We don’t need more seats, but we really need around 700 to 720 for a good program. And we’ll get a beautiful ground floor in return.

Read here the full article in De Gelderlander (Dutch only)

Check here the renovation plans for Stadstheater Arnhem by team Braaksma & Roos