The theater hall of the Schauspielhaus in Vienna’s Porzellangasse is located under the courtyard of a house from the Gründerzeit era. The foyer facing the streetside seeks to attract attention and spark the interest of visitors. The short pathway to the lower level via angular staircases has been fashioned as a transformation space, which sets the tone for the distorted reality of the performance. The adjacent building, which can be accessed from the foyer, houses the S-Bar, a popular meeting spot prior, during and after the show.

The bright red logo, an S-shaped snake, shines from the mezzanine window next to the main entrance. The vestibule is brightly lit and features a polished concrete floor. The bar is located on the left, but the wide staircase painted in scarlet red attracts the curiosity of the beholder as if it were a picture stage. Past the first landing, where visitors can check coats, they proceed deeper into the red gorge. Illuminated displays with enlarged close-ups of pink kork wool light the visitors with a strong sidelight and make them become part of the spectacle. The S-bar, braced by five tall basket arch windows, boasts a wide space for visitors with a long counter made of fine-grated granite. Space-saving tables twin tables and comfortable small arm chairs are arranged in front of it.

The floor is, as with the theater foyer, made from polished concrete and the enlarged snakeskin pattern adorns the ceiling here too. The pink kork wool can be spotted again behind the bottle shelves. Two scaled steel frames that flank the bar resemble portals leading via a few steps to the VIP rooms in the back of the space.

The hard steel and concrete and the photographically distorted kork wool create an ideal creative ambience for the bar. While the private room furnished like a lounge with upholstered seating glistens again in deep red next to the counter, the space on the right reveals itself as a classical restaurant with white tablecloths. The parquet and wall panels are made of dark robinia, while the snakeskin on the ceiling provokingly reminds of the common theme. With limited design tools, the architects succeeded in creating individual spaces that invite the visitors to interact.

(Walter Zschokke, 2002)