Theatre: History, Concept & Approach

Theatre is an important field of art and culture that has been developed since antiquity to meet people's needs for entertainment and reflection. The word theatre derives from the Greek theatron, meaning “a place for seeing,” and is closely associated with the act of watching. Today, modern theatre traditions present these earlier forms and ideas through a contemporary approach, building upon their historical foundations.

Traditional Turkish performing arts developed particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries through forms such as puppetry, shadow theatre, ortaoyunu (a traditional Turkish theatrical form), and meddah (a traditional Turkish storyteller), giving rise to a deeply rooted culture of spectacle and performance. The concept of temaşa (spectacle and performance), referring to performances presented to audiences through visual and auditory elements for the purposes of entertainment and engagement, has taken different forms across cultures and periods. From the emergence of tragedy and comedy in Ancient Greece to the traditional forms of Turkish theatre, temaşa has been an important part of social life and shared cultural experience throughout this historical process. Particularly prominent in the performance traditions of Central Asia and the Islamic world, this culture of spectacle also played a formative role in the development of Turkish theatre.

By the 19th century, Pera had become a centre of the Ottoman Empire’s intensive diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations with Europe. Embassies and diplomatic circles contributed to the spread of Western performing arts in Istanbul, while theatre became an important meeting place that brought together different sections of society.

The Naum Theatre, which operated in the 19th century on present-day İstiklal Avenue, on the site now occupied by Çiçek Passage, was one of the first significant examples of the Western theatre tradition in Beyoğlu. From the 19th century onward, Beyoğlu became a meeting point for different cultures and consulates, and theatres in the Western tradition multiplied along İstiklal Avenue and its surroundings. Over time, the area became one of the major centres of Istanbul’s theatrical life.

One of the important buildings representing this historical continuity in the 20th century is the Muammer Karaca Theatre, located on a cul-de-sac opening onto İstiklal Avenue, between the Dutch Consulate and the French Consulate. Founded by Muammer Karaca, one of the leading figures of boulevard theatre, the theatre opened its doors in 1955. The building was designed by Perran Doğancı, Karaca’s niece and one of the pioneering women architects of her period. Over its more than half-century of history, the building hosted prominent figures of Turkish theatre, including Muhsin Ertuğrul, Adile Naşit, Gülriz Sururi, Yıldız and Müşfik Kenter, Münir Özkul, Sadri Alışık, and Genco Erkal, as well as numerous theatre companies, becoming an important part of Beyoğlu’s theatrical memory.

Numerous theatre and cultural buildings that were demolished, rebuilt, or transformed over time continue to carry traces of this historical accumulation into the present. Today, the cultural axis that begins at the Atatürk Cultural Centre, continues along İstiklal Avenue, and extends to the Haliç Shipyard maintains Beyoğlu’s role as a centre for the performing arts and culture.

Architectural Approach

Historical maps show that the site of the Karaca Theatre once contained a 19th-century Beyoğlu apartment building, a French Court building belonging to the French Consulate, and a garden situated between the two. These structures were incorporated into the theatre complex through Perran Doğancı’s 1955 project. A main staircase serving the foyer was inserted into the Beyoğlu Apartment Building, while the floor levels were reorganised according to the requirements of the theatre. As a result of these interventions, the building’s original spatial character and its historic façade, which now faces the atrium, became largely illegible.

The renovation project reconsidered the relationship between these three structures and the programmes they accommodate. While the original character and façade of the Beyoğlu Apartment Building were brought back into view, the theatre volume was separated from the apartment building and defined as an independent mass. The French Court building was reprogrammed to be accessed from the cul-de-sac. These three structures, belonging to different periods and possessing distinct characters, were reconnected through a transparent atrium inserted between them.

Extending from the roof level down to the Bosphorus-facing façade at ground level, the atrium defines a transparent and light-filled foyer at the centre of the building. Bringing natural light from the roof to the foyer levels, the atrium also reveals once again the façade of the Beyoğlu Apartment Building, which had remained concealed within the building for many years. In this way, the atrium becomes more than a circulation space connecting the three volumes; it becomes an interstitial space that makes the building’s different periods and architectural layers legible as a whole.

The distinct characters of the three structures are also preserved and made visible through the selection of materials. Stone and brick surfaces are retained in the vaulted spaces of the French Court building, while textured plaster and original surrounds are preserved in the Beyoğlu Apartment Building. Between them, the atrium is conceived as a contemporary and transparent layer composed of glass, steel, and white surfaces. With its restrained architectural language, the theatre volume is distinguished from this historical fabric and read as a contemporary addition.

On the Bosphorus skyline, the Karaca Theatre establishes a harmonious relationship with the scale and continuity of the surrounding buildings while asserting its own identity through its simple white façade. A large opening in the façade lightens the building’s massive volume while making the atrium and the coexistence of its different architectural layers visible from outside. In this way, the theatre integrates into Beyoğlu’s existing skyline without becoming detached from it, while its contemporary and restrained architectural language gives it a distinct presence within the city.

Programme Distribution and the New Karaca Theatre

While the original spatial qualities of the Beyoğlu Apartment Building, the French Court building, and the theatre volume, as well as their roles within the new programme, are defined individually, the atrium between them is conceived as a shared space through which these distinct components establish relationships with one another. Distributing the programme across these four spatial components allows each structure to retain its own character while reorganising circulation, encounters, and shared uses within an integrated framework.

01 Beyoğlu Apartment Building / Theatre House

The former Beyoğlu Apartment Building has been repurposed as a Theatre House open to independent theatre companies. Its existing room layout has been preserved, while spaces have been created to accommodate theatre education, workshops, and rehearsal processes.

In the 1955 Karaca Theatre project, the foyer staircase inserted into the apartment building was removed, revealing the original room layout. The floor levels were reorganised in accordance with restitution survey data, and the jack-arch floor slabs were reconstructed in accordance with the building’s original construction technique.

The façades of the building have been restored, bringing its original architectural character back into view. While the street-facing façade retains its place within Beyoğlu’s existing urban fabric, the façade that had previously been enclosed within the theatre building has been exposed again through the creation of the new atrium. As a result, one side of the apartment building becomes an exterior façade opening onto the city, while the other functions as an interior façade facing the atrium. Addressing two different public spaces, the building can once again be read as part of the circulation both within the street and within the theatre.

02 French Court Building / Exhibition Hall

The vaulted space of the French Court building has been repurposed with a flexible infrastructure capable of accommodating different exhibitions and performances. In a manner comparable to the character of alternative performance venues around İstiklal Avenue, the hall is accessed directly from the cul-de-sac. The street thus becomes more than a circulation route, transforming into an open foyer where users can gather before and after events.

Within the existing vaulted structure, the voids created by columns belonging to the reinforced-concrete structural system of the former theatre have been preserved as traces of the building’s past interventions. The new theatre structure has been established by inserting steel structural elements into these existing voids, without making a new intervention to the vaulted structure. Rather than erasing the traces left by the old structure or creating new ones, the new structure follows and completes them. The geometry of the hall is likewise derived from the points defined by these existing traces, while taking shape as a new form that expresses its own period.

The artists’ entrance at the end of the cul-de-sac also serves this space. The vertical circulation connection created here allows the exhibition and performance hall to share the main theatre’s backstage and service areas. Thus, the French Court building becomes part of the programme as an alternative cultural and performance venue that can operate either together with the theatre or independently, as required.

03 Theatre

With a capacity of 300 spectators, the theatre comprises a main stage, side stages, stalls, and a balcony. The auditorium is organised around a compact plan that brings the audience as close to the stage as possible; distributing the capacity between the stalls and balcony reduces the volume of the auditorium in plan. This allows the theatre volume to be set back from the Beyoğlu Apartment Building, creating space for the atrium between the two structures.

The compact geometry of the auditorium and the balcony surfaces reinforce the visual and spatial proximity between the audience and the stage while supporting the balanced sound distribution and acoustic integrity required for musical and stage performances. The main stage is equipped with fully integrated stage machinery, a stage platform, and a freight lift to accommodate different types of performances.

The stalls foyer is located one level above the entrance, while the auditorium is reached through two corridors opening from the foyer. These corridors also connect to the fire stairs, allowing audience circulation, service routes, and evacuation scenarios to be resolved together. The vertical circulation extending from the ground floor to the terrace level establishes connections between the backstage areas, stage, balcony, and lighting bridge in everyday use.

A large opening behind the stage, facing the Bosphorus, gives the auditorium a distinctive quality beyond its conventional enclosed character. Capable of being blacked out during performances, this opening admits natural light during daytime rehearsals and stage-design work, while framing the Bosphorus as a backdrop behind the stage.

Conceived within a restrained shell, the interior character of the auditorium is defined by timber and anthracite acoustic elements. These timber panels enhance the acoustic performance of the auditorium while adding depth to its spatial perspective.

04 Atrium / An Interstitial Space Between Three Buildings and Three Programmes

The atrium is the theatre’s main circulation and foyer space. While incorporating the stairs leading to the auditorium, it creates a void between the auditorium and the Beyoğlu Apartment Building, separating the two structures while simultaneously reconnecting them. Removing the foyer stairs belonging to the former Karaca Theatre from within the apartment building and relocating them to this space made it possible to re-establish the historic building’s original spatial arrangement. The natural light entering from the roof creates a bright, permeable, and social communal space at the centre of the building, located within a narrow cul-de-sac.

At ground level, the atrium extends into the depth of the building and becomes the main foyer. Shared theatre functions such as the café, cloakroom, and wet areas are located here, while the foyer is also conceived as a space for encounters, gathering, and collective work. At the point where the foyer terminates, the theatre’s backstage areas begin. This section, which has a separate entrance from the street at a lower level, contains dressing rooms, storage areas, and the “green room” used by performers before going on stage. In this way, audience and artist circulation are separated, allowing the building’s different programmes to operate according to their respective patterns of use.

However, the atrium is not merely a circulation and foyer space that brings these functions together. It is defined primarily as a void: a space that contains movement and allows for different uses and encounters at different times. Rather than being directly joined together, the traces of the old buildings and the new interventions establish a relationship through the void left between them. The old and the new are not dissolved into a single architectural language; their differences and the distance between them are preserved and made visible together. Thus, the atrium ceases to be simply the space between three buildings and three programmes; it becomes an interstitial space that brings together different periods, uses, and users and redefines the relationships between them.

The relationship established by this interstitial space does not end at the boundaries of the building. The permeability established with the street at ground level allows urban movement to enter the building and enables the foyer to function as an extension of the street. As the limited public space of the cul-de-sac expands into the building, the atrium creates a new public niche opening from the theatre towards the city. Public life therefore finds a place not only inside or outside the building, but at the threshold between the two.

Designing an interstitial space means not only defining a void, but also leaving open the possibilities that the void can hold. This openness allows different relationships to emerge between the building’s past, its new users, and the city, and enables the space to be redefined over time through new uses and encounters. At the Karaca Theatre, the void opened between the three different structures does not function as a boundary separating the past from the new; rather, it operates as an interval connecting different moments in time.

Memory can likewise be understood as an interstitial space opening between the past and the future. Preserving urban memory means not simply maintaining the past as it was, but creating the conditions for the past to continue living through new uses, encounters, and meanings.