Nina Zoller’s stage designs are striking for their clarity, their anti-illusionist conception, and their faithfulness to the materials she uses. Before embarking on a design she examines the existing architecture and engages in a dialogue with the texts on which the production is based, transposing their structure into a three-dimensional form. Her credo is: “Every space is different, and every context requires a specific kind of space.”

Her primary concern when working with students is to explore a particular theme together and to encourage them to develop their potential and to find their own personal mode of expression in their treatment of space. In the course of their work the students should be able to identify their own special interests and to develop their own approach.


Nina Zoller studied architecture at the University of Kaiserslautern, obtaining an engineering degree, and subsequently worked as an architect. She then did a Master of Arts in stage design at the Technical University Berlin. She worked on a number of innovative productions at various theaters in Berlin, including productions by Sebastian Baumgarten and Constanza Macras, later spending several seasons as assistant for set design at the schauspielfrankfurt theater and at the Frankfurt opera. At the schauspiel she was able to design her own sets for the Kleines Haus and Zwischendeck theaters.