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A monthly contest from the editors of RECORD asks you to guess the architect for a work of historical importance.

Clue: This theater, completed just after the end of the First World War in a European capital city, was derided as a failure by critics after it opened. But its spectacular Expressionist design spoke to the ambition of creating a satisfying theatrical experience available to people of all walks of life. “What I have in mind is a theater that will once again bring people joy,” its owner commented, “a theater that will lead people from the misery of everyday life into an atmosphere full of bright and pure beauty.”

By entering, you have a chance to win a $500 Visa gift card. Deadline to enter is the last day of each month at 5:00pm EST.

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Last month's answer: Centennial Hall at the Tokyo Institute of Technology was designed by Kazuo Shinohara and completed in 1987. The building’s colliding forms earned it the nickname “Gundam,” the name of a group of giant robots featured in a popular anime series. But for Shinohara, who taught at the university, the building referred not to science fiction but rather to the chaotic condition of contemporary Tokyo, a site of layered buildings, infrastructure systems, and histories, characterized by extraordinary density and constant commercial competition.

Photo © WIIII, Wikimedia Commons