New construction of the municipal theaters: culture mile in downtown Frankfurt is getting closer | hessenschau.de
The drama stays in its established location, the opera is located a stone’s throw away between bank towers: With the much-discussed future of the municipal theaters, a culture mile in downtown Frankfurt is the clear favorite.
Frankfurt’s head of cultural affairs, Ina Hartwig, and Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann (both SPD) spoke out clearly in favor of a cultural mile in Frankfurt on Thursday. At a press conference on the future of the municipal theaters, she presented a report from the staff unit of the same name.
Accordingly, the theater and opera should keep their location in downtown Frankfurt and become defining elements of that same cultural mile. The opera is to be built on Neue Mainzer Straße on the former Sparkasse property, the theater would remain, newly built, at the previous location on nearby Willy-Brandt-Platz.
Most beneficial financially and environmentally
The examination of several variants shows that this is advantageous and also the most ecological, emphasized Hartwig and Feldmann. Based on the report, the city council or the new Roman coalition should now decide quickly.
After the location has been decided, there should be an architectural competition. The aim is, according to Hartwig, to design the opera and drama as “open spaces” that can be used as meeting places by the citizens, regardless of whether they go to the theater.
The opera and drama are currently housed in a double facility on Willy-Brandt-Platz between the main train station and the city center. The Frankfurt city council voted in January 2020 for a new construction of the ailing facility. A renovation was not a sustainable, economical and good solution, it was said at the time.
Different variants discussed
Different variants for the new building were sometimes heatedly discussed. These included, for example, the so-called mirror solution, in which the opera would be created at the drama location and the drama diagonally opposite. A new theater building on the Raab-Karcher site at the Osthafen was also under discussion.
The staff unit “Future of Urban Theaters” has dealt with the structural feasibility of five possible variants. In addition to functional and urban assessments of possible locations, energetic, ecological and economic aspects are also taken into account, it said.
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