20-05-15 // A UNIQUE MOMENT Selected for exhibition

View from the audience space of the Holzmarkt in Berlin during an evening performance

Eisfabrik
We propose to use the existing machines of the ice-making factory on the opposite bank of the Spree river in Berlin to produce a floating stage out of block ice pieces.

Block Ice
Block ice is typically 20cm wide and deep, and 150cm long. With water and salt, 4225 pieces can be “glued” together to create a 13m x 13m large stage that floats on water.

View from the Holzmarkt during a rehearsal

Balance
Such a floating platform would be ideal to stage a theatre version of the Academy Award-winning animated film “Balance” from 1989, the year in which the Berlin Wall fell.

Balance between East and West
As the site was the boundary between East and West Berlin before 1989, the five strange men of the performance will not only balance on a platform, but as well between east and west.

View of the floating stage from the opposite bank of the Spree river during an evening performance

Ephemeral Stage
As the stage is made of ice blocks, it will melt after a couple of days in the water transforming the performance into an ephemeral event and a unique moment.

Audience Space and Facilities
We propose to locate the space for the audience and all the facilities for the theatre on the land using the existing resources of the Holzmarkt as much as possible.

Title: A Unique Moment
Project: Floating theatre on the river Spree in Berlin, Germany
Date: May 2015
Type: OISTAT Theatre Architecture Competition, international ideas competition
Organizer: Architecture Commission of OISTAT (International Organisation of Scenographers, Technicians and Theatre Architects)
Participants: 197
Ranking: 25.
Location: Berlin, Germany
Site: River Spree in Berlin in an area known as the “Holzmarkt” or wood market”
Programme: Floating theatre
Surface: 169m2
Status: Competition
Awards: Selected Entry for Exhibition
Exhibition: From June 9 to 11, 2015 at the Theatre Architecture Competition during Stage| Set| Scenery—World of Entertainment Technology in Berlin, Germany
Team: Bernd Upmeyer, Katerina Petrocheilou, Apostolia L. Sofiadi