The new Musical Theater in Poznań, designed by Atelier Loegler Architects, is expected to be readyin three years. A contractor for the work, which will cost 100 million zlotys more than planned, has finally been selected. The first completely new theater building in Poznan after the war will stand in a very prominent location.
Finally. It has been known since last Friday that the new Musical Theater building in Poznan will be built by the Adamietz company. It was the company that won the "design and build" tender announced last May. This is now the company's second major construction project in Poznań. Since January it has been carrying out another spectacular Poznań investment: The Museum of the Wielkopolska Uprising.
concert slip
In the coming weeks, the contract will be signed and work will begin. We can expect the first excavations later this half of the year. The finished building of the largest theater of its kind in Poland is expected to welcome the first audience in more than three years - in the fall of 2027. However, should the original plans come true, performances should already be taking place in the new edifice of Poznan's Musical Theater. But the road from handing over the site for the facility to the start of construction was very long.
Musical Theater in Poznan, visualization - shape of the block, illustration from the competition work; left: Święty Marcin Street, right: area of the future park between Skośna Street and PKP railway tracks
© Atelier Loegler Architekci
Thenew site for its headquarters, run by the City of Poznan Musical, was given by the municipal authorities in 2017 after a long search for a suitable location. Ultimately, it was decided that the theater would stand on a highly exposed plot on Skośna and Święty Marcin streets in the historic downtown next to the Kaponiera traffic circle, by the railroad tracks leading to the nearby Central Station. Standing next to it are the historic academic buildings of the representative district from the early 20th century and the former imperial castle from 1910 (today the Zamek Cultural Center).
Musical Theater in Poznan - site for the investment - view from Kaponiera traffic circle, from left: Collegium Iuridicum UAM, Św. Marcin street, Academy of Music, site for the theater
photo: Jakub Głaz
dialogue with the Baltic
The design of the edifice was selected in an architectural competition decided in 2019. It was won by a dynamic and very distinctive form proposed by the Cracow-based studio of Romuald Loegler (Atelier Loegler Architekci). The competition judges appreciated
the way in which it relates to the surrounding buildings and the shape of the block, which fits into the panorama of the downtown district. The court notes the openness of the expressive form, the inviting nature of the foyer and the aesthetics of the entrance area.
According to the designer, the original and strong shape is intended to lead a dialogue with the original Bałtyk office building standing on the other side of the tracks (design: MVRDV, realization: 2017).
Musical Theater in Poznań - the site for the investment - view from Św. Marcin Street towards the Kaponiera traffic circle (right), the Bałtyk office building and DS Jowita are visible, the site for the theater - left
photo: Jakub Głaz
The building permit was ready as early as 2021, but the start of the investment dragged on for financial reasons. To provide money for construction, the City signed an agreement with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage to jointly operate the facility (for four years). A year ago, the County District Office also pledged to provide a small portion of the finances. At the time, local politicians of all options spoke with a common voice regarding the theater. Before the tender was announced, however, the investment was expected to consume nearly 290 million zlotys. The amount currently quoted by the authorities is about 100 million higher. Funding is provided primarily by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, together with the City of Poznań and the Poznań District.
Musical Theater in Poznań, overview visualization - daytime view of the western elevation
© Atelier Loegler Architects
by the water about music
Thus, for the sum of 390 million zlotys, a very distinctive form covered with an irregular broken roof will be created in three years. The glazed facades will be enlivened by the drawing of diagonal vertical divisions. The spectator section with a multifunctional foyer and a plaza in front of the building will be located on St. Martin's Street, with the main hall for one thousand two hundred people planned in the middle, and rehearsal rooms, technical and office space and warehouses to the south. A chamber hall for 300 spectators will be built on the lower level. Also planned is a concert space for 150 listeners and a restaurant with a banquet hall.
Music Theater in Poznań, overview visualization - a fragment of the foyer
© Atelier Loegler Architekci
The project is also to include a Water and Music Park with a reservoir fed by water flowing off the theater's vast roof slopes. A narrow, long green area is planned behind the administrative part of the theater, in a wedge between the tracks and Skośna Street, which was extended by the investment. In December, the Urban Planning Studio showed a preliminary concept for the location of the new Central Station with a real park as one of the connectors leading from the station to the center.
View from Swiety Marcin Street, in the background from the left: a residential and office complex on Towarowa Street, the so-called PKP Central Station, the fairgrounds with the MTP spire
photo: Jakub Głaz
However, we still don't know the target visualizations of the theater's body, elevations and interiors. They will most likely be made after the completion of the detailed design, which - in accordance with the "design and build" procedure - will already be handled by the Adamietz company. According to the information we have obtained, however, this does not mean that Romuald Loegler's studio will not have an influence on important technical solutions (as, unfortunately, happened in the case of the Polish Theater in Szczecin by the same office). According to investor declarations, the empowerment of the designers of the original project is to be much stronger in Poznan.
quality, quality and more quality
The most modifications and detailing now probably await us in the interiors, which have already been transformed relative to the competition concept at the stage of the construction project. However, the most distinctive feature of the project, typical, by the way, of Loegler's theater projects, will remain unchanged: the controversial carmine color of the walls and finishes - both in the spacious foyer and the theater hall.
Music Theater in Poznań, overview visualization - main stage auditorium
© Atelier Loegler Architects
Regardless of the controversy that is constantly being stirred up by both the interior and the expressive form in the vicinity of historic buildings, the new Musical Theater building is highly anticipated in Poznan. The institution, which will celebrate its seventieth anniversary in two years (it operated as the Poznań Operetta until 1973), has occupied the extremely non-functional and cramped space of the Garrison Club in the Soldier's House on Niezłomnych Street since its inception. The construction of a new building was planned as early as the 1970s, there was even a competition, but the matter went ad acta. Where the theater was once planned to be relocated is now the Stary Browar shopping center and the Andersia office complex. In the last decade, under the management of Przemyslaw Kieliszewski, the level and stature of the once-decadent theater has increased significantly. This makes it all the more deserving of a new, large headquarters in an important location.
Musical Theater in Poznan - the site for the investment - view from Kaponiera/University Bridge, you can see the cut trees; in the background from the left: the skyscraper of the University of Economics
photo: Jakub Głaz
The current location is much more visible than the one proposed half a century ago. The theater will already be visible from trains going to the city's main station (40 percent of the audience is from outside Poznan). There is also hope that the Musical will have a positive impact on the revitalization of the downtown area near the unfriendly and "deserted" Kaponiera traffic circle. Perhaps it will also become an important spatial and functional accent of the western end of Swiety Marcin Street, whose protracted renovation is now coming to an end. Now you have to keep your fingers crossed for a high level of workmanship, materials and details. As we have written here many times before, the Musical's expressive, even somewhat flamboyant form will only defend itself if - from the details to the entire body - it is executed in a perfect manner.
Musical Theater in Poznan - site for the investment - view across the railroad tracks from Dworcowa Street, on the left Collegium Iuridicum and the Academy of Music
Photo: Jakub Głaz
