The Polish Theatre in Szczecin
The Polish Theatre in Szczecin was built almost 100 years ago and is a real pearl of modernist architecture. The revitalisation of the historic building while preserving all its characteristic elements was only part of the task faced by Budimex. Its second element was the connection of the old part with a new – modern reinforced concrete and glass structure integrated into the Oder escarpment. The new building, 17 m high, consists of 4 underground buildings and an observation deck, which is also the roof of the New Theatre Building. It is in the new part that the main stage with 569 seats, the stage of the Shakespeare theater (549 seats) and the experimental stage with almost 200 seats are located.
The construction of the Polish Theatre in Szczecin was a real engineering challenge. In order to create a multi-storey underground part, it was necessary to lower the groundwater table. For this purpose, more than 60 thousand cubic meters of soil were removed and about 150 thousand cubic meters of water were pumped. On the other hand, more than 5000 cubic meters of concrete and over 2000 tons of reinforcing steel were used to make a diaphragm wall, which is a vertical protection of the excavation lying on the slope of the building. As a result of the work, a structure with an area of over 4500 square meters was created, the highest of which is over 22 meters.