The Helena Majdaniec Summer Theatre, or Teatr Letni, is set in one of the most beautiful outdoor cultural facilities in Poland. It is the summertime centre for culture in Szczecin and an architectural symbol of the city. Its rich cultural heritage, spectacular visual character, and its glorious location surrounded by nature all contribute to the theatre’s identity. The theatre is situated in Park Kasprowicza has served for over a century as the most popular recreational area for city residents. The Summer Theatre Auditorium smoothly blends into the steep slope of the Niemierzyńska Valley, surrounded by a dignified stand of trees and the charming backdrop of Lake Rusałka.

The idea of setting a modern cultural facility in a green, open-air site arose in the 1970s via a social initiative of Szczecin citizens. The design with its characteristic arch was created by Szczecin architect Zbigniew Abrahamowicz and opened in 1976. The symbol of the amphitheatre, the arch, alluded to the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, designed by Eero Saarinen.

By 2016 the poor technical and functional condition of the amphitheatre had resulted in the gradual disappearance of events at this venue (with an audience of over 3,000), creating a gap in the venue for cultural events in spring and summer for a city of 400,000. The competition brief called for design proposals to maximise the flexibility of the 1976-designed theatre for a variety of performances on the stage including a new roof to be capable of sheltering both the stage and the audience, and our approach has also developed an innovative strategy to achieve acoustic flexibility for the venue.

The form of the roof is closely tied to the poetics of the landscape of the site. Walking towards the amphitheatre from the city, gradually the white arch emerges from the green tree cover, contrasting strongly with its surroundings.

Next the viewer perceives the form of the auditorium roof, a white shell-like form glimpsed through the tree canopy. This impact is so strong that the whole design is almost organically subordinated to this emotion.

A new entrance has been created at the top of the natural slope, which introduces a multifunctional open-air foyer with a terrace running along the crown of the amphitheater, opening views of the park's greenery and the Rusałka lake, and directly on the stage.

The new roof is the most striking element of the new amphitheatre, a thin steel grid-shell, wrapped in fabric, which hugs the form of the natural hillside amphitheatre, passing through and under the arch from which it is structurally independent then rising dramatically over the stage. Our aim was to create a “window” for the audience to view the scenery of Lake Rusałka beyond.

The dynamic geometry of the roof arose out of a multidimensional analysis of a range of design guidelines and assumptions. It is adapted to the auditorium, the arch, and the terrain. The lightness and spaciousness of the roof was obtained through a refined steel grid shell construction. The outside of the roof is covered by a technical fabric stretched over the arches to form a visually striking, diamond-shaped coating, while a specialized acoustic fabric forms the inside of the roof which optimizes the space for amplified music.

The use of such an arrangement of acoustic materials is highly innovative and was aimed at creating an outdoor amphitheatre with the finest acoustics and stage technology in Europe. The naturally ventilated amphitheatre, offering high sound quality, suits the post pandemic model for the functioning of outdoor cultural facilities.