A modern amphitheatre

A modern amphitheatre 

At a concert in the main auditorium (Grote Zaal) of the TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. It's the only part that remains of the original Vredenburg theatre by Herman Hertzberger. During the recent restoration it was spared much change: its morphology, furniture and furnishings remain rooted in the modernism and brutalism of the 1960s and 1970s. In comparison to earlier and later theatres it has an inexpensive, informal appearance that does little to endear it to the visitor, although it is deeply familiar, reminiscent of so many formative environments from that period - schools, libraries, hospitals, neighbourhood cafés.

The space of the octagonal amphitheatre helps one go beyond such matters: it's a large hall that nevertheless feels intimate, probably because many parts are dimensioned smaller than one would expect. This clever trick works admirably well in the auditorium but not so well around it. There, all one experiences is a labyrinthine network of corridors, lots of small, complex circulation spaces, with little room to stand and wait, except for a number of cute little niches. The number of the niches may be large enough but their size and dispersion make them seem more like incidental appendages to the corridors.

I admit to having a soft spot for this kind of architecture but I try to be objective about my darlings. The bottom line is that I'm glad they preserved the Grote Zaal; as a theatre it's worth having; as a monument of past Dutch architectural tendencies it's worth studying.

A few words on the TivoliVredenburg building