Schaubuhne am Lehniner Platz

The Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz is a famous theatre in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin, located at almost the middle of the famous Kurfürstendamm. It is a conversion of the Kino Universum, designed by Erich Mendelsohn in 1926. This was perhaps the first Modernist cinema built in the world, as opposed to the Moorish, Egyptian and baroque styles that predominated. Mendelsohn wrote a short text on his cinema, declaring 'no baroque palaces for Buster Keaton'. The cinema would become very influential on Streamline Moderne cinema design in the 1930s. It is the centrepiece of a wider design by Mendelsohn for the WOGA housing complex. The building's current use as a theatre dates from the late 1970s, and the interiors have been completely changed. Since 2005, Thomas Ostermeier and Jens Hillje are responsible for a quiet modern orientation - where tradition still has its place of Peter Stein's former Theatre.