Harp on Fire - Michelle Sweegers

Theater De Kom sits on the Stadsplein in the centre of Nieuwegein, where it forms the cultural anchor of the Kunstcluster, a redevelopment scheme that also brought a new town hall, shops and underground parking to the area. The building was designed by architect Frits van Dongen of Architekten Cie, commissioned in 2007 and completed in 2012. Its glass facade is printed with a pattern suggesting theatre curtains, a detail that does double duty by reducing heat gain inside the building. The facade is also translucent enough to project silhouettes from the foyers out onto the square, functioning almost as a twenty metre high display window after dark, when the lighting colours can be changed to shift the mood of the whole frontage. Inside, the theatre runs across two performance spaces. The main auditorium seats between 650 and 700 people and is equipped to handle concerts, theatre and dance productions. The second space is a flat floor studio theatre with a retractable tribune that accommodates around 200, giving it the flexibility to be reconfigured for smaller concerts, lectures and festivals. Three interconnected foyers link via an open staircase to a theatre café overlooking the Stadsplein, and the top floor of the complex houses an arts centre used for music, dance and acting classes as well as multifunctional events. The programming at De Kom reflects its role as the main city theatre for Nieuwegein and the surrounding Utrecht region. Alongside theatre and dance productions, the venue regularly presents live music, ranging from tribute concerts to touring international shows. The building also sits within the broader CityPlaza district, which includes the municipal library, giving the area a concentrated cultural presence in what is otherwise a predominantly commercial town centre.