ABSTRACT
Hans Scharoun's contemporary text reveals concern with movement both inside and outside the building, for the theatre's approach and relation to the city were part of the arriving audience's unfolding visual, spatial and haptic experience, which continued in the foyer and entry to the auditorium. The rooms for movement unfold in the core-defining representative spatial progression, which includes foyer, refreshment room and smoking room. The refreshment room faces the front garden, the smoking room the valley, also open to the wider landscape. The Kassel Theatre project of 1952, designed in collaboration with leading landscape architect Hermann Mattern, was a milestone in Scharoun's work but also his saddest loss, scandalously dropped after detailed development and a start on site. It won the competition outright, much praised by the judges, and was developed for construction. The social task of the building is expressed additionally in the use of the theatre as festival site for the city.
