General project report: objectives

The terms “as it stood” and “where it stood” certainly do not imply a purely mechanical reconstruction of something lost.
History provides us with an example: when a crack opened up in the ceiling of the auditorium during one particular rebuilding project, it was demolished and rebuilt so that the auditorium would vibrate in unison with the vibrating body like the case of a giant musical instrument.
The main principles of reconstruction remain the same. The ceiling and floor are more like membranes compared with the rigidity of the cylindrical masonry in the theatre stalls. In terms of acoustics, their function is to balance out the selective absorption of the theatre boxes through a complex system of oscillation. The shape and smoothness of the ceiling provide a key focalisation point for the lowest notes, those which start at around 40 Hz.
Throughout the project, the structure of the classical theatre was compared with that of a stringed instrument, and this surprising analogy formed a guideline for design. The stiff ribs of a violin can be likened to the bearing walls of the stage and theatre stalls; the waist of the violin where the instrument is played corresponds to the narrowing of the proscenium; similarly, vibrations are produced in the waist of a violin and transferred to the case by means of the bridge; the producer of sound, the orchestra, sits in the narrowing of the proscenium, transmitting vibrations to the floor of the orchestra pit.
The theatre vault is like the case of a violin: both are made from fir wood, both are flexible and light. Once again, the bottom part of the violin, which transmits sound, can be compared to the flooring of the theatre stalls, also made from wood, flexible, thin, separate from the ground. Furthermore, some violas and double-basses have a flat, not curved bottom. Finally, both the auditorium and the face of the theatre, stage, orchestra pit and flooring nearly always rest on wooden beams.
The aim of the Foreword is to emphasise how designing a theatre is a particularly delicate task which requires in-depth study, not least because we are rebuilding the auditorium of a theatre which is no longer standing.
For these and other reasons, the utmost consideration was given to craft techniques throughout the design of the new theatre. Lessons were learnt from ancient arts to help create a place where classical canons could be brought forward to modern times. These values apply not only to the architecture of the theatre as it once was, but also to the concept of “as and where it stood”, implying the manual work of craftsmen and the secrets of their methods and materials.
An ensemble of techniques used by master craftsmen, in which the “craft” is passed on from one expert to another as a manual legacy, the understanding of aesthetics and technological know-how found in both workshop and site: our aim was to reproduce this knowledge at each stage of the project. This approach will enable us to appreciate the image of the past, the result of rococo restyling in the mid 1800s, using plain lacquered wood, wood inlaid in strips, wood inlaid in the round and papier-mâché so that most of the sound box which will restore the acoustics of the past is rebuilt with centuries-old techniques. This philosophy of restoration and reconstruction forms the basis for the project, one in which traditional decorative techniques are applied to architecture.
The structure of the boxes and their effect on the acoustics of the decorations which “embellish” them, as Meduna wrote in his plans for the auditorium, were recreated using the same techniques to provide the best acoustic performance; the new wooden structure was built using specific artistic techniques in close connection with the decorative elements, which play an essential role in propagating sound waves and absorbing them through their papier-mâché, pulped and layered features. Building techniques were chosen to suit the materials and their individual requirements: straw paper, blotting paper and macerated rice paper were soaked in water mixed with powdered calcium carbonate to make the water “harder”, bone glue or rabbit-skin glue was then added to the mixture to give it consistency, stiffness and slight flexibility; once properly dried, the end product was sufficiently hard and ready for finishing with gilding or lacquer in the same way as a wooden inlay.

Project report