Light & Light in Lichtenberg (lecture only accessible in German)
Peter Haimerl - PETER HAIMERL ARCHITEKTUR

A new underground concert hall preserves Haus Marteau and its park. Haus Marteau in Lichtenberg, a three-story villa from the early 20th century, impresses with its unique structure and striking silhouette: The formal language of the new building formally picks up on the mining past of Upper Franconia and transforms the materials formerly mined here, which were often found in crystalline forms, into the architectural.
The conception of the completely underground hall emphasizes the tradition of the site and at the same time enriches it with a contemporary, dynamic-sculptural position. A narrow, sloping connecting passageway links the two parts of the building, leading down like a gallery and preparing those walking for the new concert hall through an intense spatial experience: The design idea is based on two opposite mountain explosions, which find their architectural execution in large granite splinters. The interior of the New Hall is characterized by 33 large expressive granite splinters, which are placed on the walls and ceiling around a central stage like a solidified explosion. For this purpose, thin granite slabs were placed on a steel substructure - the largest elements are up to 13 meters long and weigh almost nine tons. The splinter-like, tetrahedron-shaped granite elements define the spatial effect, appearing corporeal and moving, and are arranged to model the acoustics of the new hall. The New Hall is characterized by a central concert stage flanked by two dialogically arranged grandstands. Above these two rising spatial elements, the space-defining bodies of granite extend sculpturally expressive. In their dynamic and expressive directionality, they dynamize the space around the stage and at the same time magically illuminate it through the backlighting of the splinters. At the same time, floating crystalline light bodies illuminate the stage space. The hall offers 88 fixed seats.