Hans Otto Theatre – Potsdam
Since September 2006 the ensemble is playing in the new theater on the site of the “Schiffbauergasse” at the bank of the Tiefer See/Havel. The architect and laureate of the Pritzker award Gottfried Böhm designed a five-story theater building with saucertype, protruding roofs. The dominant materials are concrete, glass and steel. A gasometer classified protected monument has been integrated in the body of the building.
On the side of the lake Tiefer See there is a former chicory mill – also a protected monument – which is including a restaurant today. The upper foyer and the stage hall are equipped with glass window facades opening the view over the Havel river towards the palace park Babelsberg. For the evening theater shows it is possible to darken the auditorium completely.
The hall is providing space for a maximum of 480 spectators. Under the rows of the spectators are distributed 50 elevator platforms permitting to lower and to raise the auditorium in a flexible way. The rear stage may be opened to the round interior space of the gasometer. Thanks to the orchestra pit the stage is also appropriate for musical theater shows. The concrete realization of the design and the execution of building works were done by Paul Böhm, the son of Gottfried Böhm.