After two years in storage, the Zuiderstrandtheater in The Hague rises as a kit in Oss: « Meant to Be »

The Zuiderstrandtheater was never built for eternity. The stage arose in 2015 on the Scheveningen coast as a temporary accommodation for the Dutch Dance Theater, the Residentie Orkest and the Stichting Dans and Music Center The Hague, until they would find a home at Amare, the then new complex for education and culture on Spuiplein. The building was not beautiful. A box of concrete. The theater issued a competition in 2015 for a suitable nickname. ‘De Oester’ came out as the winner: « Ugly on the outside but a gem on the inside. » It turned out to be a pearl embraced by the public. In 2021, Amare opened its doors and so those of the Zuiderstrandtheater had to close. And what do you do with such a gray box by the sea? The municipality of The Hague put the theater for sale. There were conditions: the buyer had to dismantle, remove the building and rebuild at least 72 percent of the building in a different place – and then prefer to use it as a theater again.

About 130 kilometers away, in Oss in Brabant, Coen Bais now faced a considerable challenge. Theater De Lievekamp, ​​where he was the director at the time, was outdated and grew out of his coat.

De Lievekamp was built in 1968, just outside the center of Oss and acquired fame ten years after the opening because the TV program The Ted Show was included in the Great Hall from 1978 to 1984. In the following years, the number of performances, in all kinds of genres, continued to grow. The theater also managed to attract more and more audiences, in 2023 the Lievekamp was visited by around 130,000 visitors. The library, which is also in the building, wanted to move to a new location in the city. Renovation was necessary, expansion desirable.

« Our large room now has 650 seats, while there is a need for more. In addition, the seating comfort is no longer of this time. If you want to improve that, with more legroom and wider seats, then you go down in capacity, » says Bais, who originally also comes from The Hague, during an enthusiastic PowerPoint presentation in the current Theater in Oss. The Zuiderstrandtheater met many of the demands they had in Oss. The theater was more modern, more met the current standards and with 1,000 seats, the Zuiderstrandtheater met the ambition of a large room with 850 seats.

MEANT TO BE

« The special thing was: the Zuiderstrandtheater came at exactly the right time. We were in the middle of the planning. If you already have a whole plan, you have to start designing again, » says Bais. « And the most beautiful thing was: that room turned out to fit precisely at the location of the current library. I just want to say: MEANT TO BE.  »

For a symbolic amount of 2 euros and around 1.1 million euros in costs for dismantling, transport and storage, the Zuiderstrandtheater was purchased by the municipality of Oss of the municipality of The Hague. Now the whole theater, taken apart, has been waiting for a field since 2023 and waiting in a storage in Oss until it can rise.

A plan was made for a new theater, in which the Zuiderstrandtheater goes up. « We did not want the feeling of a second -hand theater, on the outside the Zuiderstrandtheater cannot be recognized. The building will be our new large room. What is now our large room will be the middle room, » says Bais. « Because we got infected by the purchase of the Zuiderstrandtheater through that circularity idea, we wanted to extend that as much as possible. We don’t build new, but we look at what we can still reuse. »

Sizzling enthusiasm

You wouldn’t say it, if you hear him talking so full of fire about the project, but Bais has been retired for almost two years. « For the continuation, I have been there from the start, I was asked to stay involved in the project. » There are two more people at the table, Sjoert Bossers, since 1 May the brand new director-director of De Lievekamp, ​​and Barbara de Leeuw, project leader engaged by the municipality. The table sizzles with enthusiasm and ambition. The drawings of the architect show a theater that would not look out of place in the big cities. Such a large, circular and modern theater with three halls, a music school, wheelchair spots and a foyer where also occurs can be taken, you may not expect in Oss. Bossers: « Oss has a regional function. We have a occupancy rate of 80 percent here at the Lievekamp, ​​which is really extremely high. »

Bais adds: « Oss is a bit of a municipality where people don’t really have a picture, unless there has been something negative. Strangely enough, that always lands a bit heavier at Oss. But it is also known as the leading Global Goals municipality. » The Global Goals are seventeen goals for a sustainable and inclusive society that municipalities, such as Oss, can commit to.

« The circular thought fits in perfectly with that, » says Barbara de Leeuw, « It is not cheaper, but you can wonder: what is the price that we as the world and society pay in the long term by always wanting everything to do so in our way, you save around 2,200 tonnes of Co.₂. We also don’t really speak of breaking down, but of harvesting.  » The theater is supposed to stay open throughout the construction by building in phases.

The company takes a look at the field where part of the Zuiderstrandtheater is stored. The concrete canal plates are simply outside, « it is possible. » Other material is in a tent. Everything is in a certain order, equipped with QR codes, so that it can be put together as a gigantic kit. This is the first time that Bossers sees his new theater, prepared as separate building material. « I’m looking forward to it, » he says.

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