117 years ago, a theater project of international significance was launched in Stuttgart: the construction of the current opera house in the Oberern Schlossgarten, known as the Littmann Building. With the start of the competition for its renovation, modernization, and expansion, a new chapter in the history of the world's largest three-genre theater is now beginning.

On October 6, the architecture competition for the renovation and modernization of the opera house in Stuttgart began. In the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, opposite the Littmann building, the jury approved the competition documents. These documents form the basis for the competition between the 30 participating architecture firms.

The renovation and expansion of the listed Littmann building is the most outstanding of a total of three sub-projects, alongside the interim location at the Wagenhallen in Stuttgart-Nord and the new workshop building in Bad Cannstatt. A few days ago, the Stuttgart City Council and the state approved the project for the more detailed planning phase of the new workshop building. The architecture competition for the opera house now represents another important milestone for the overall project.

Press release: Start of competition

An important step in the renovation of the opera house in Stuttgart has been taken: the Stuttgart City Council and the state committees have unanimously approved the project decision for the new workshop building for Württembergische Staatstheater Stuttgart in Bad Cannstatt. This marks the start of the design planning for the first of a total of three sub-projects. The new building will be constructed on the site of the former sugar factory and is scheduled for completion in 2030. In future, all workshops relevant to stage design will be united under one roof there – including the painting room, carpentry workshop, paint shop, and assembly hall. The costs for this technically highly sophisticated building amount to around 127 million euros, including risk provisioning. Half of the costs will be borne by the city and half by the state.

The facilities at the new location meet the latest standards. Efficient operational processes and current occupational health and safety regulations are guaranteed for the 80 employees and are a prerequisite for economically sustainable theater operations.

Christoph Niethammer, Managing Director of ProWST, comments: “As the main party responsible for the project, we are delighted to have reached this important milestone on schedule. This was made possible by the excellent and focused cooperation of all those involved, above all the Württembergische Staatstheater in Stuttgart.”

A perfect blend of activity, history, and future – that sums up this year’s summer event. Under ideal weather conditions, we began with a hike along the scenic Blaustrümpflerweg, starting at Marienplatz.
Our first stop was the Garnisonsschützenhaus, where we enjoyed a fascinating tour of the 19th-century listed building, once a military shooting range. Mr. Schmidhäuser vividly shared the site's history.
From there, the route took us via the historic cable car and Karlshöhe back to Marienplatz, offering stunning views along the way. After a lunch break, we headed to the InfoTurm Stuttgart (ITS). Following this, a tour of the Stuttgart 21 construction site provided us with exclusive insights into this major and complex project.
We ended the day with cool drinks and relaxed conversations on the theater terraces next to the opera house. A day full of impressions, good company, and team spirit.

The guided city walk along the planned Stuttgart Rosenstein – including insights into Maker City and the future alternative venue for opera and ballet – was well attended despite the rain.
Experts from the city of Stuttgart and ProWST provided information on site about the current status of the plans. Participants learned more about the topography, existing buildings, and future development of the Rosenstein quarter.
A special highlight at the end of the tour was a visit to the construction site for the temporary opera house. During the renovation of the historic Littmann-Bau, the opera and ballet of the Württembergischen Staatstheater will find a new home here. Preparatory measures are already underway on the site.
Our project team presented the planned architecture and the special challenges of this exciting project on site.

Here you can find further details about the route.

At the meeting of the Board of Directors for the renovation of the Württemberg State Theatres (WST), Minister of Science and the Arts Petra Olschowski and Lord Mayor Dr. Frank Nopper highlighted the cultural significance of the project. In particular, they praised the progress made in the planning of the new workshop building in Bad Cannstatt and the announcement of the realization competition for the renovation, modernization and expansion of the main location in the Upper Palace Gardens. Both sub-projects are on schedule for the rough timetable for the implementation of the overall project, which was presented in November 2024 and reconfirmed at the Board of Directors meeting.
At the same time, they made it clear that a smaller and simpler solution was needed for the interim location at the Wagenhallen. In this context, the management of ProWST emphasized that a noticeable reduction in construction costs would only be possible through a significant downsizing of the room program and a reduction in standards.
The aim remains to find an economic and economical solution that simultaneously safeguards the artistic quality of the ballet and opera divisions and guarantees a functioning working environment for WST employees.
ProWST will continue to drive forward the implementation of the refurbishment project with a high level of professionalism and commitment.

At the beginning of May, the support association of the Staatstheater Stuttgart e.V. visited the C1 area at the Wagenhallen in Stuttgart North, the future interim location of the Württembergischen Staatstheater Stuttgart.

The participants were impressed of the freshly placed marking of the future entrance to the interim location. This is where the Stuttgart Ballet and Stuttgart State Opera will rehearse, work and perform in their outstanding excellence during the renovation, modernization and expansion of the Littmann Bau in the Oberer Schlossgarten. The speech by the Managing Director of the Württembergischen Staatstheater Stuttgart, Mr. Hendriks, at the future entrance was moving. For the 1,400 employees the better working conditions in a modernized and expanded building is thus becoming tangible.

Before the tour of the site the Managing Director of ProWST GmbH, Christoph Niethammer, gave an overview of the complex and comprehensive “opera renovation” project.

Alexander Lange, Managing Director of a+r Architekten GmbH, then presented the competition design for the interim location of the Württembergischen Staatstheater, which he submitted together with NL Architects.

It became clear to the audience that this project represents the first building block for the newly emerging district of Stuttgart Rosenstein. The Württembergische Staatstheater Stuttgart will play a key role in shaping Stuttgart Rosenstein with their unique charisma and will form together with the Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V, the heart of the new district.

The astonished participants learned that only a small part of the building complex will serve as a temporary venue fort he Stuttgart Ballet and Stuttgart State Opera.

The much larger part will be permanent structures that will initially house the rehearsal and production areas required for the performance, as well as apartments.

After the entire ensemble has moved back into the modernized, renovated and expanded Littmann Bau, the interim location will later be home to additional apartments, workshops and creative industries.

A big thank to everyone for the great interest and the lively exchange on this evening!

Thank you to the managing director of the Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V., Mr. Bischoff, for his welcome and for making the “Tor 5” room available.
And a further thank you to Mr. Jensen, who contributed the expertise of the state capital Stuttgart during the tour of the site.

The ProWST project managing team visits various stage refurbishment projects in Germany. Insight into other major refurbishment projects can provide valuable findings - especially for possible optimization and acceleration potential.

In February a very good exchange took place with the planning team in Mannheim. This team is responsible for the refurbishment of the Nationaltheater.

In March our team visited the construction site for the renovation and extension of the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe and the renovation of the Staatstheater in Nürnberg.

These excursions enable an intensive exchange between colleagues at various specialist levels. They offer the opportunity to learn from the valuable experiences of other projects.

The gained knowledge will be incorporated into our own project - in order to make the renovation, modernization and expansion of the Württembergischen Staatstheater as efficient and smooth as possible.

BuildingSMART Germany is an independent association and the largest network for the digitalisation of the construction and real estate industry in Germany. It is part of the international network buildingSMART International and has been campaigning for open, manufacturer-independent standards in the digital planning, construction and operation of buildings for over twenty years.

The association brings together experts from business, science, public administration and civil society to work together on digital solutions and standards such as ‘open building information modelling’ (BIM).

Membership of buildingSMART Germany means being part of this active community, gaining access to exclusive specialist information and networks and being able to actively participate in the development and harmonisation of digital standards. 

Contact person for buildingSMART in our team is BIM Manager Pascal Beckers. The team is looking forward to a lively exchange and good cooperation.

Click here for Building Smart

As part of our ProWST Christmas celebration, we had the special opportunity to visit the John Cranko School in Stuttgart. There, we attended a rehearsal of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet." Afterwards, we were given a very informative tour of the impressive building, which was completed in 2020.

We visit the exhibition “Ganz große Oper - Viel mehr Theater?” at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM Ostend) and took the opportunity to visit the Future Department of the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt.

Our thanks go to Mr. Förster for the excellent guided tour through the exhibition and to Ms. Jürges and Mr. Hölzinger for the inspiring exchange!

Christoph Niethammer, Managing Director of ProWST, presented the current status of the rough schedule for the overall project to the Administrative Board of the Württembergischen Staatstheater.

The previous schedules of the City of Stuttgart and the State of Baden-Württemberg, as well as the architects' current framework schedules for the interim site and sugar factory subprojects, were reviewed. This plausibility check was based on a detailed project plan. Based on this, a new rough schedule for the overall renovation, modernization, and expansion project of the Württembergischen Staatstheater was developed.

Our team is constantly growing. It was time for an official team photo that will give you an idea of who is behind this major project.

The first team event took the employees to the scenic Urach Waterfalls. After a three-hour hike passing the Rutschenfelsen, the Rohrauer Hütte, and the Gütersteiner Waterfalls, the group enjoyed a good lunch. The day concluded with a guided tour of the historic town of Bad Urach.

The City of Stuttgart handed over the interim site project to ProWST in summer 2024. Our thanks go to the Stuttgart Building Authority for enabling a seamless transition and for conducting the tender and commissioning of the key specialist planners.

In spring 2024 ProWST took over the projects “New construction of the decoration workshops of the Württembergischen Staatstheater” and “Renovation and modernization of the Upper Palace Garden” from the Baden-Württemberg State Office for Property and Construction.

After the office space at Friedrichstraße 45 was handed over to ProWST, some minor interior work still needed to be completed. After that, the furnishing and installation of the IT equipment could begin. At the beginning of the new year, the time had finally come: the first employees were able to move into the new premises.

Christoph Niethammer becomes the new Managing Director of the Württembergischen Staatstheater (ProWST) project company.

Christoph Niethammer initially studied architecture at KIT Karlsruhe and ETH Zurich. After graduating, he went to the USA, where he earned a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University in New York. As an architect, he planned and implemented numerous construction projects in renowned planning offices. These include cultural buildings in Salt Lake City, Hamburg, and Bremerhaven, as well as residential and commercial buildings in New York, Berlin and Hamburg. From 2013 to 2023, he was responsible for the development of mixed-use inner-city neighborhoods in Hamburg – most recently as Managing Director.