THE PRELIMINARY PROJECT

2. rebuilding objectives

General principles of design
The fire did not destroy all of La Fenice Theatre; the perimeter walls and main internal partitions are still standing, although damaged in many areas. In the projecting part of the theatre, the foyer, main staircase, royal stairs, part of the ceilings, decorations and fittings have survived; the side wings used for offices and support for the theatre are substantially intact.
The surviving structures still give a complete overview of the theatre's layout: three main adjoining buildings and a number of smaller annexes outside the perimeter walls:
- the projecting part of the theatre, with the foyer on the ground floor, the main staircase and the Apollo Auditoria (a);
- the main part, including the theatre auditorium, the stalls, five rows of boxes and the orchestra pit (b);
- the end part, with the stage, theatre scenery and adjacent services (c).
The layout also includes two secondary structures situated to the right and left of the auditorium and stage, with stairs which once led to the boxes, service areas and offices (d).

The building stands on a narrow plot with irregular borders, laboriously carved out of the complex urban fabric with its spaces skilfully arranged through traverse angles and deviations from the axes of the three main parts of the theatre, a layout from which no subsequent rebuilding work or modifications have been able to diverge.
Leaving aside the key question of conservation for a moment, it would seem irrational to modify the layout of the lost theatre as part of the current rebuilding project, bound by the shape of the site, or to alter the size and scale of each part of the theatre, rooted in the past and closely linked to the height and outline of the surrounding buildings.

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