Leipzig

Architecture. Culture. Saxony?! We never fail to be impressed with how Leipzig is excelling as the largest city in the Free State of Saxony. You can find contemporary architecture, like the Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz S-Bahn station, designed by the renowned architect Max Dudler, situated right next to historically-significant buildings. But that’s not the only reason we selected this city as a shoot location. It’s almost impossible to escape Leipzig’s vibrant energy and this precisely why we would heartily recommend a visit to the opera house. With its more-than-300-year history it offers much more than just a rich and varied musical repertoire. The history of the Leipzig Opera House can be traced back to 1693, when it was the third largest bourgeois music theatre in Europe after Hamburg and Venice. In 1960 the building was re-opened as the only new opera house in the GDR and was – despite the Socialist façade – one of the most impressive buildings of the 1950s. A technically-ingenious trapezoidal auditorium ensures outstanding visibility and impeccable acoustics for the audience, wherever one sits. The building was constructed in specially selected materials and finished in the most intricate of details: externally clad in Pirna sandstone, the vestibule floor is covered in blue-black diabase. Partially hand-finished Meißen porcelain adorns the walls, alongside ornaments resplendent in gold leaf; exquisite parquet flooring and wine-red carpets give an impression of the splendour the former Socialist regime wanted to project.

A fascinating and stimulating juxtaposition can be found in the placement of the glass building bricks (which are lit from behind) and the concrete geometric shapes presented by the new S-Bahn station in the centre of Leipzig: an installation that goes above and beyond. Almost transparent in appearance, the hall interior contrasts with both of the corridors and the staircases which are, quite simply, exposed concrete. You almost get the feeling that you are stepping from the Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz into the centre of the earth: architecturally-impressive elegance that won Max Dudler the 2013 Leipzig Architectural Award.

High-quality details and elegance on the one side, modernity and clarity on the other – two things that we are not alone in combining.