Music woven into the city

Music theater, Enschede

The performance arts are especially suited to sharing inspiration, nourishing our spirits and checking in with our emotions. This is exactly why we were very excited at having the chance to design a performing arts centre in Enschede, an opportunity that we eagerly grabbed with both hands.

Project details

Name Music theater
Client Municipality of Enchede
Location Enschede
Status Completed

The new theater is a combination of a music academy, rock venue and opera theater. The location, directly north of the historical center and adjacent to the existing concert hall, offered a wonderful opportunity to create transparent foyers. This connects the building to the intricate maze of the city centre and Wilmink Square.

Behind the transparent façade the round and wooden shapes of the concert hall are easily recognizable. The hall has been designed as an opera hall - one of the few in The Netherlands - and is home to the National Traveling Opera. The acoustics in the hall are variable and allow, if necessary, for ample reverberation time, ensuring nineteenth and twentieth century opera music to sound riveting.

The two pop music halls have both been designed as black boxes with straight forward rectangular shapes and are extremely flexible in their use. Both feature an interior design with durable and robust materials such as raw concrete and corten steel, providing a true rock atmosphere.

The music academy has been stacked on top of the main hall’s backstage and the collective expedition facilities for all on the north end of the building. The school is directly accessible from the street and has a second entrance via an elevated square in the heart of the building which can be reached via the gradually sloping route starting at the station square.

Synergy and cross pollination are central in the way the building’s design connects genres, performers and audiences, and professionals and amateurs. In the meantime plans are being made to integrate Enschede’s public library into the foyers of the building. An exciting new phase which will undoubtedly bring even more cross pollination!