Royal Danish Playhouse
Waterfront drama house of the Royal Danish Theatre, with a public boardwalk around its base.
The Royal Danish Playhouse, known in Danish as Skuespilhuset, opened in February 2008 at the end of Sankt Annæ Plads on Copenhagen's inner harbour. Lundgaard & Tranberg won the competition in 2002 with a design in three stacked layers: a dark brick and concrete plinth standing in the water, a glazed foyer level, and a copper-clad upper box housing the fly tower and offices. A timber boardwalk wraps around the building and is open to the public as a harbour promenade.
The Playhouse is the drama stage of the Royal Danish Theatre and complements the Opera House across the water and the Old Stage on Kongens Nytorv. It contains three auditoria seating roughly 650, 250 and 100: the Store Scene, the flexible Mellemgulvet and the small studio Portscenen. About forty per cent of the structure stands over the harbour, and the brickwork uses a long, slim dark-brown brick developed specially for the project. Repertoire spans classical drama, new Danish writing and international work, and the building received a RIBA European Award in 2008.
Highlights
- Copper-clad upper volume above a glazed foyer over the water
- Public timber boardwalk encircling the building
- Three auditoria, including the 650-seat Store Scene
- Harbour-front café and foyer open outside performance times
