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ManfreDu Schu :
Multipurpose Hall in Thaya

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Thaya, 2005
Hauptstraße 36, 3842 Thaya

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MandreDU SCHU has recreated excavations of individual spaces from a 12th century village, originally found in Hard, under as well as in the newly designed hall by the architects ah3 in the neighbouring community of Thaya. The majority of these excavations are situated in the courtyard of the hall while two wells have been reconstructed inside it.

ManfreDU SCHU houses excavations from a 12th century village in Hard as the level 'remains' of a theatre entitled Tiahe in neighbouring Thaya directly under or, more specifically, in the newly built hall by the group of architects ah3. Or was the cultic venue containing architectural elements from the middle ages as well as the remains of an antique theatre always there? With a great deal of patience and sensitivity SCHU extracted the individual spaces of the theatre from the ground. These spaces include the stage, used both by the actors as well as the musicians, the changing room and the storage space behind it, and the spacious auditorium. SCHU discerns between two building phases, which are subtly shown in variations in the thickness of the walls. The majority of the ruins are to be found in the courtyard to the hall. Inside, two well shafts like ones discovered in Hard provide a view into the depths. Whether the remains of the theatre have been extracted from the ground, so to speak from the past, or inserted later remains open. In any case the excavations are now accessible to the visitors to the hall, who become extras from the past or protagonists in the present depending on one's point of view.
(Katrina Petter)