Costs of new hall just quadrupled during Covid
mainEveryone has agreed that Karlsruhe needs a new opera house to replace its unsightly concrete bunker.
The city agreed a budget of 270 million Euros, which seemed reasonable a couple of years ago.
It has now spent 508 million and the Badische Neuesten Nachrichten today reckons the final cost is likely to exceed one billion.
That, even by Hamburg standards, is some overspend.
The administration in Karlsruhe is one of the most incompetent and conniving I have ever come across.
Have you ever actually been to this so-called unsightly concrete bunker? Inside, it’s a really nice space with high quality fixtures and finishings, and the auditorium itself has good sight lines and a decent acoustic. Knocking down perfectly serviceable buildings just because they no longer meet contemporary aesthetic standards is hardly environmentally friendly either.
I love Germany, but have often found the vaunted “German efficiency” to be a myth. At least when trying to navigate its airports. Not to mention the Berlin-Brandenburg airport fiasco.
This summary is not quite correct. They have not already spent 508 mil. The estimated costs were raised to 508 Mil. And then recently raised again to ca 700 mil…. and then raised again.
The plans are currently being reevaluated by the city council.
The theater is beautiful inside – with three unique performance spaces…. but is woefully inadequate for future peformance and the theater is bursting at the seams. Making a thoughtful and considered investment in the infrastructure would be a powerful statement of support for theater and the arts moving into the future.
@sanity – I don’t know when your experience in Karlsruhe was, but there have been significant changes there in the last year.