Spiel-Räume der Demokratie

In the 1950s and 60s, no other country built as many new theatres as West Germany. The post-war building boom was a reaction to wartime destruction and to the enormous audiences of those years, and competition between the commissioning cities was a further driving force. The book traces the significance and social relevance of a building type for a young democracy.

Before theatre building entered a crisis from the 1970s onwards, it went through an unparalleled boom. Prominent architects such as Egon Eiermann and Rudolf Hillebrecht played a major part in the debates conducted through the media, and the role and intentions of West Germany's most important theatre designers – among them Alvar Aalto, Fritz Bornemann and Gerhard Graubner – become clearly visible.