Metamorphoses

Döllgast’s postwar reconstructions have often been interpreted as stoic works of restraint and reflective remembrance – a reading somewhat detached from Döllgast’s varied writings and teaching, which devoted little space to questions of memory and mourning. Döllgast’s explorations of the relationship between theatricality and architecture sheds a different light on his ethos as a designer. He was passionate about the theatre, strongly encouraging his students to take an active interest in it to develop a deeper understanding of architecture (Döllgast 1972: 49–51). Upon their first meeting, filmmaker Dieter Wieland was struck by Döllgast’s gift as an actor and performer, who used »gestures, facial expressions and very deliberate, contrasting pitches and volume to stage his ideas.« From his first book in the 1937 to his last published words shortly before his death in 1974, Döllgast time and again returned to the theme of theatricality, and what we may term the performativity of the built environment. In his extended essay »Häuser-Malen« (painting houses), Döllgast speaks of the »suggestive power […] that always emanates from built situations« (Döllgast/Güssow 1963: 10). This suggestive power he interpreted through the notion of the performative potential of architecture. His understanding of the interdependence of architecture and play was remarkably nuanced, especially in relation to the temporality of architecture.