At the beginning of May, the support association of the Staatstheater Stuttgart e.V. visited the C1 area at the Wagenhallen in Stuttgart North, the future interim location of the Württemberg State Theatres Stuttgart.

The participants were impressed of the freshly placed marking of the future entrance to the interim location. This is where the Stuttgart Ballet and Stuttgart State Opera will rehearse, work and perform in their outstanding excellence during the renovation, modernization and expansion of the Littmann Building in the Oberer Schlossgarten. The speech by the Managing Director of the Württembergische Staatstheater Stuttgart, Mr. Hendriks, at the future entrance was moving. For the 1,400 employees the better working conditions in a modernized and expanded building is thus becoming tangible.

Before the tour of the site the Managing Director of ProWST GmbH, Christoph Niethammer, gave an overview of the complex and comprehensive “opera renovation” project.

Alexander Lange, Managing Director of a+r Architekten GmbH, then presented the competition design for the interim location of the Württembergische State Theater, which he submitted together with NL Architects.

It became clear to the audience that this project represents the first building block for the newly emerging district of Stuttgart Rosenstein. The Württembergische State Theatres Stuttgart will play a key role in shaping Stuttgart Rosenstein with their unique charisma and will form together with the Kunstverein Wagenhalle E.V, the heart of the new district.

The astonished participants learned that only a small part of the building complex will serve as a temporary venue fort he Stuttgart Ballet and Stuttgart State Opera.

The much larger part will be permanent structures that will initially house the rehearsal and production areas required for the performance, as well as apartments.

After the entire ensemble has moved back into the modernized, renovated and expanded Littmann building, the interim location will later be home to additional apartments, workshops and creative industries.

A big thank to everyone for the great interest and the lively exchange on this evening!

Thank you to the managing director of the Kunstverein Wagenhalle E.V., Mr. Bischoff, for his welcome and for making the “Tor 5” room available.

And a further thank you to Mr. Jensen, who contributed the expertise of the state capital Stuttgart during the tour of the site.

The ProWST project managing team visits various stage refurbishment projects in Germany. Insight into other major refurbishment projects can provide valuable findings - especially for possible optimization and acceleration potential.

In February a very good exchange took place with the planning team in Mannheim. This team is responsible for the refurbishment of the National Theater.

In March our team visited the construction site for the renovation and extension of the Badisches State Theatres in Karlsruhe and the renovation of the State Theatres in Nürnberg.

These excursions enable an intensive exchange between colleagues at various specialist levels. They offer the opportunity to learn from the valuable experiences of other projects.

The gained knowledge will be incorporated into our own project - in order to make the renovation, modernization and expansion of the Württemberg State Theatres as efficient and smooth as possible.

BuildingSMART Germany is an independent association and the largest network for the digitalisation of the construction and real estate industry in Germany. It is part of the international network buildingSMART International and has been campaigning for open, manufacturer-independent standards in the digital planning, construction and operation of buildings for over twenty years.

The association brings together experts from business, science, public administration and civil society to work together on digital solutions and standards such as ‘open building information modelling’ (BIM).

Membership of buildingSMART Germany means being part of this active community, gaining access to exclusive specialist information and networks and being able to actively participate in the development and harmonisation of digital standards. 

Contact person for buildingSMART in our team is BIM Manager Pascal Beckers. The team is looking forward to a lively exchange and good cooperation.

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As part of our ProWST Christmas celebration, we had the special opportunity to visit the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. There, we attended a rehearsal of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet." Afterwards, we were given a very informative tour of the impressive building, which was completed in 2020.

We visit the exhibition “Ganz große Oper - Viel mehr Theater?” at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM Ostend) and took the opportunity to visit the Future Department of the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt.

Our thanks go to Mr. Förster for the excellent guided tour through the exhibition and to Ms. Jürges and Mr. Hölzinger for the inspiring exchange!

Christoph Niethammer, Managing Director of ProWST, presented the current status of the rough schedule for the overall project to the Administrative Board of the Württemberg State Theater.

The previous schedules of the City of Stuttgart and the State of Baden-Württemberg, as well as the architects' current framework schedules for the interim site and sugar factory subprojects, were reviewed. This plausibility check was based on a detailed project plan. Based on this, a new rough schedule for the overall renovation, modernization, and expansion project of the Württemberg State Theater was developed.

Our team is constantly growing. It was time for an official team photo that will give you an idea of who is behind this major project.

The first team event took the employees to the scenic Urach Waterfalls. After a three-hour hike passing the Rutschenfelsen, the Rohrauer Hütte, and the Gütersteiner Waterfalls, the group enjoyed a good lunch. The day concluded with a guided tour of the historic town of Bad Urach.

The City of Stuttgart handed over the interim site project to ProWST in summer 2024. Our thanks go to the Stuttgart Building Authority for enabling a seamless transition and for conducting the tender and commissioning of the key specialist planners.

In spring 2024 ProWST took over the projects “New construction of the decoration workshops of the Württemberg State Theatre” and “Renovation and modernization of the Upper Palace Garden” from the Baden-Württemberg State Office for Property and Construction.

After the office space at Friedrichstraße 45 was handed over to ProWST, some minor interior work still needed to be completed. After that, the furnishing and installation of the IT equipment could begin. At the beginning of the new year, the time had finally come: the first employees were able to move into the new premises.

Christoph Niethammer becomes the new Managing Director of the Württemberg State Theater Stuttgart (ProWST) project company.

Christoph Niethammer initially studied architecture at KIT Karlsruhe and ETH Zurich. After graduating, he went to the USA, where he earned a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University in New York. As an architect, he planned and implemented numerous construction projects in renowned planning offices. These include cultural buildings in Salt Lake City, Hamburg, and Bremerhaven, as well as residential and commercial buildings in New York, Berlin and Hamburg. From 2013 to 2023, he was responsible for the development of mixed-use inner-city neighborhoods in Hamburg – most recently as Managing Director.