ROMOpen Air Festival Arena

  • Status:Built
  • Typology:CUL
  • Location:St.Margarethen (AT)
  • GBA:10.000 m²
  • Year:2008-05
  • PS:1–7


ROM – Redesign of the Roman Quarry


Spectacle Under The Stars

A show in the Roman quarry doubtless is a unique experience for every visitor, whether it is the classical-music lover enjoying a performance of the opera festival or a local watching the annual passion play with his friends as amateur actors.
The playing and singing under the open sky on a gentle summer night, far away from the noise of the street is an experience that even the average visitor who is not too much into opera and passion plays will find overwhelming.
Until now, though, it has only been the stage itself that has benefited from the ambience of the location, unique in Austria, whereas the path used by visitors to get from the parking lot to their seats in the auditorium and back always was an unatmospheric, merely functional accessway. The basic idea of the design is to extend the ambience of the magnificent rock-face scenery to all parts of the theatrical arena so as to make it a more palpable and visual enveloping experience.

Planning: AllesWirdGut
Project Stages: 1–7
Client: Fürst Esterházy Familienprivatstiftung

Competition: 08.2005 – 1st Prize
GBA: 9.875 m²

Team: Alexandra Seip, Ferdinand Kersten, Jan Schröder, Johanna Kropp, Martina Arend, Martin Brandt, Sandra Gnigler

Structural engineering: gmeiner_haferl
Building services: HPD Planungsdienst
Structural physics: Büro Prause
Geotechnics: 3P Geotechnik
Lighting design: Klaus Pokorny
Kitchen planning: Büro Stria
Exit route planning: Büro Düh

Photos: Hertha Hurnaus