- Instructors
- Meinhard von Gerkan, Stephan Schütz, Nicolas Pomränke, Sona Kazemi
- Design period
- 09/2023-11/2023
- Type
- Academic Project
- Keywords
- Mass Timber, Reuse, Modular, Tenon & mortise
Background
The original task of the project was to design an interim opera for Frankfurt during its opera house’s renovation. However, after a survey of all the state operas in Germany, I found out that opera houses require regular renovation every several decades. Since even an interim opera can be expensive and time-consuming, it is a pity to consider it as a one-time building. So I converted the task into designing an interim opera that can be divided into reusable function boxes and easy to transport inside the city after the real opera completes its renovation.
The project aims to create a quickly constructed, eco-friendly, even ‘portable’ system to build an interim opera during the transition period. It can be dismantled into basic components that are suitable for truck size. The components can be rebuilt in other places with complete functions, for example, a rehearsal room for a local school or an open stage for music festivals in a community park. Moreover, in order to dismantle, transport, and rebuild the interim opera in other parts of the city, components are connected to each other by special joints instead of rivets and bolts. A timber-membrane combination is applied to the facade system to not only reduce the weight but also make the facade foldable to save transportation space, thus reducing costs and carbon emissions.
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