Kunstmin Theater

Studio Makkink & Bey, with Greiner van Goor Huijten Architects, have redesigned the interior of the Kunstmin Theater in Dordrecht, preserving its distinctive characteristics.

Studio Makkink & Bey, working with Greiner van Goor Huijten Architects, have redesigned the interior of the Kunstmin Theater in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, while preserving the distinctive cultural, historical and architectural characteristics created by architects Jan Verheul and Sybold van Ravesteyn.

Makkink & Bey built the design as a whole from the floor up while preserving the theatrical nature of the existing foyers, with Baroque elements introduced by Van Ravesteyn. The use of soft shades and materials and the repetition of shapes and colours in the cafe, stairs and ceiling lend the foyer a calmer feel. Light-coloured carpet tiles give pixelated colour accents to the floors around Van Ravesteyn’s ornamentation. The blue of the coat check balances the visual impression visitors receive as they drop off or pick up items.

“An auditorium should be viewed in the manner of a beautiful woman, in the surroundings that suit her, fully made up,” the architect Jan Verheul said in 1887. Studio Makkink & Bey have captured this sense of style in the design’s form and material expression. “We’ve rethought the theatre as a public space,” says Jurgen Bey. “We know that a lot of people dress up beforehand and that in the foyer it’s all about seeing and being seen. The interior supports this, just as a set supports a stage performance. A good interior is like a landscape. Whether you’re walking around on your own or with a lot of people, it always feels good. We wanted to leave the walls and ceilings untouched, so we decided to work from the floor. The foyer of the main theatre is lined with square carpet tiles in beige tones. On it rests the square furniture designed by the studio, which seems to rise from the floor, sometimes with floral still lifes by the artist Frank Bruggeman alongside.”

In Sybold van Ravesteyn’s original design, the cafe’s wooden floor consisted of straight boards. In the redesigned interior, the floorboards have again been placed side by side, accentuated by colour differences. In the central dance floor area, the lines escape their straight grid and cross each other, disrupting the room’s sense of perspective. “The more seeing encourages movement, the more interesting the structure is, experience tells us,” Van Ravesteyn said. “Movement generates more interest than stillness.”