Theater 11
'A case of cannibalism in architecture' is what EM2N architect Daniel Niggli calls his conversion of the Stadthof 11 in Zurich-Oerlikon into a theatre for musicals. The new building incorporated everything of the old theatre it could use, though that was little more than the stage house and the cellar, and gave it state-of-the-art technology. Faced with the large buildings of its surroundings and the open space in between, the theatre responds without copying their scale. Its highest corner juts forward, opening up at the base like a shark's jaws. From this corner, the dark casing of perforated sheet metal enveloping both the outer walls and the roof, angles downward until, by the time it gets to the back wall, it is down to the level of the single-family homes there. Piercing the perforated sheet-metal shell, a few large windows frame particular views into the building. In the evening, light shines through the many small openings in between, which are visible only in outline by day.
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