Helle Bøcken Wikke Karin Skousbøll
Architecture body and space
10 · graphic design & publishing
Architecture, Body and Space Copyright © 2016: 10 · Graphic Design & Publishing Published by 10 · Graphic Design & Publishing Kigkurren 8A, 4th floor DK-2300 Copenhagen S Denmark info@10gdf.dk www.10gdf.dk This book is the English edition of Arkitektur Krop Rum published in 2010. It is the result of a research project by Karin Skousbøll and Helle Bøcken Wikke at the Centre for Sports and Achitecture, Institute 3, at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture. Graphic Design: 10 · Graphic Design & Publishing Translation: Introduction and part 1: Marsha Henriksen Part 2, part 3, epilogue and notes: Cornelius Holck Colding Proof-reading: Dorte Herholdt Silver Cover: Installation by Jonathan Monk for Y8 Art and Yoga Center. A grid structure with reference to Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). Photographer: Immanuel Grosser. Print: Livonia Print ISBN: 978-87-93341-00-5 This publication is kindly supported by: The Dreyer Foundation, Realdania and Bergiafonden
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the authors and the publisher. Where possible, we have obtained permission to reproduce the copyrighted illustrations used in this book. Those of the copyright holders we have not been able to trace are welcome to contact the publishers, in order to recieve payments according to standard fees.
Helle Bøcken Wikke Karin Skousbøll
Architecture body and space
10 · graphic design & publishing
contents 7
Introduction
Part 2
Part 1
Selected Examples of Spaces for excercise & Moderate Sports
Spaces for Movement – Moving Spaces
16 18 20 23 27 29 30 31 33 34 34 35 35 36 37 38 39 41 46
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9
The Dionysian versus the Apollonian New, Rediscovered Connection between Body and Mind, Sport and Culture Why Did the Alliance between Body and Mind Disappear? Women and Sport: the Modern Emancipation The Development of ‘Moderate’ Forms of Sport What Do the Concepts of Sport, Physical Education and Athletics Cover? Which Forms of Sports and Exercise Can Be Described as ‘Moderate’? 1.7.1 Yoga 1.7.2 Pilates 1.7.3 Gymnastics 1.7.4 Rhythmic Gymnastics 1.7.5 Aerobics 1.7.6 Dance 1.7.7 Professional Modern Dance – American Modern Dance 1.7.8 Artistic Ballet Dance About Space and Dance 1.7.9 Aquatic Workouts – Water Spaces and Water as a Vegetative Element The Most Recent Developments in Architecture and Sport Introduction to Part 2’s Compilation of Examples
TOPIC I Contextuality – projects that are noted for their contextual embeddedness 50 58
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2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7
Territorialization and genius loci: Dance Base, Edinburgh, Scotland Interplay between old and new: Canada’s National Ballet School, Toronto, Canada Infill/urban renewal with a social perspective in a dense urban weave: Gymnase Maurice Berlemont, Paris, France Infill in an open modernist city with injection of a new activity: BasketBar, Utrecht University, Holland New artificial sports landscape: Tennis Club, Murcia, Spain The rural landscape, interplay between building and landscape: Golf Fontanals de Cerdanya, Spain Spontaneity and temporality: Winterbadeschiff, Berlin, Germany
TOPIC II Function and spatial organization – projects that are noted for their organization and logistics, from the tailor-made to the very flexible, with examples of both performative spaces and transition areas 104 112
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2.8 Tailor-made and sculptured: Seebad Kaltern, Tyrol, Switzerland 2.9 Polyvalence – the hybrid struc ture: Stevie Eller Dance Theatre, Arizona, USA 2.10 Flexibility and the outside/inside relation: Wagner Dance Building, California, USA 2.11 Performative space: Le Pavillon Noir, Aix-en-Provence, France
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2.12 Transition space: Floral Street Bridge, London, UK TOPIC III Sensuousness and aesthetics – projects that challenge the senses in different ways and utilize the interplay between senses, synaesthesia
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2.13 Visuality, light and colours: Laban Dance Centre, London, UK 2.14 Basic orientation, acoustics: Parc Esportiú Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain 2.15 Tactility, hapticity and materiality: Siobhan Davies Studios, London, UK 2.16 Light, materials, synaesthesia: Therme Bad Aibling, Germany 2.17 Alternating multi-sensory experiences: Y8 Art and Yoga Center, Hamburg, Germany
part 3 Strategies for Creating Spaces with Sensuous Qualities
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3.0 Priority Areas within Spaces for ‘Moderate’ Sports. 3.1 Contextuality. 3.1.1 Territorialization, Anchoring and Genius Loci. 3.1.2 Dialogue with Urban Space: Interplay with Existing Historical or New Architecture. Projects Functioning as Catalysts for Urban Regeneration and Social Rehabilitation. Conversion of Defunct Industrial Estates to New Mixed-Use Districts. 3.1.3 Interaction with the Landscape: Green Urban Spaces and Parks. Nature as Context in Open Landscapes. Contextual Balance between Terrain and Building.
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3.2 3.3 3.4
3.1.4 Instant Architecture – the Temporary vs. the Permanent: Spontaneous and Temporary Use of Buildings and Localities. Nomadic Structures. Temporary Architecture. Function and Spatial Organization. 3.2.1 Programme and Flexibility vs. the Tailor-Made. 3.2.2 On the Organization and Design of Performative Spaces: Flexibility and Multi-Functionality as Architectural Design Principle. 3.2.3 On the Organization and Design of Transition Areas. Engaging the Senses – Aesthetics in Architecture. 3.3.1 On Phenomenology and Perception. 3.3.2 On the Body and the Interplay of Senses – Synaesthesia. Architecture’s Potential Dialogue with Each of the Five Sensory Systems. 3.4.1 Visual Aspects: Light, Colours and Graphic Effects: On Artificial Lighting and Light Art. On Colours. Graphics, Optical Illusions and Spatial Effects. 3.4.2 Basic Orienting Aspects: Kinaesthesia and Bodily Orientation in Space. 3.4.3 Tactile and Haptic Aspects: the Sense of Touch in Relation to Texture. 3.4.4 Auditory Aspects: Sounds and Acoustic Features. 3.4.5 Olfactory Aspects: the Significance of Smell, Scent – and Taste.
epilogue Facts Litterature illustration credits Notes
Introduction Project Background and Vision The Architecture, Body and Space project focuses on how architectural design can bring aesthetics and the senses more into play when frameworks are created for exercise and the moderate forms of sport that are especially preferred by many women. Modes of exercise such as yoga, rhythmic gymnastics and dance are often performed under cramped conditions within the standard hall’s space and environment. The existing school gyms, sports centres, clubs, fitness centres etc. are probably utilized quite equally by men and women percentage-wise, but primarily for competitive sports and physical strength training, while to a great extent the moderate forms of sport have to settle for architectural frameworks that were created for entirely different purposes. In Denmark, two out of three adults, and four out of five children, play sports and just as many women as men are active unlike the situation 50 years ago. According to the first recorded data in 1964, the number of men who were active in sports was twice that of women. The interest in sports and exercise is steadily increasing and everyone wants a functional, beautiful and inspirational space that is suitable for that particular type of physical activity. Sensory and aesthetic interaction between architecture, body and space is essential especially for the moderate forms of sport where the body is in close contact with the space, and where the physical and the mental have to be experienced symmetrically. Aesthetics is defined as the knowledge that is acquired through the senses.1 A building or space is perceived not only with the eyes, but with the interaction of all the senses – with the entire body, so to speak. As a result, we found it essential to clarify the importance of the senses, as well as aesthetics, to spaces for movement and bodily expression by analyzing and displaying a number of examples of spaces where the architecture has taken a position on, and intentionally worked with design, illumination, acoustics, texture, colors and so on to appeal to the senses and create movement understood on several levels. Studies2 have identified, among other things, that there is a difference between the two genders’ preferred forms of sport. Whereas men’s top ten sports are: running, strength training, soccer, swimming, cycle sport, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, hockey and tennis women prefer running, gymnastics, aerobics/Zumba, strength training/fitness and rhythmic gymnastics, yoga/Pilates, swimming, all manner of dance and badminton; of all the women’s favorite branches of sports, only the latter is best cultivated within a traditional sports hall. The desire for outdoor activities is growing – the preference of both genders is jogging/fun
Y8 Art and Yoga Center in Hamburg (by yoga teachers and artists BenitaImmanuel Grosser) practises the concept ‘Participating, at the same time’, which explores the converging realms of art and yoga. Alternating artists – here Gerwald Rockenschaub from Austria – choreograph the space for a limited period of time.
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Dancers in the Parisian district Belleville-Saint-Maur. Gymnase Maurice Berlemont by architect Emmanuel Saadi (2006) illustrates how poetry and atmosphere can be injected into a multi-space, in spite of prosaic surroundings and a limited budget. LOA (Lokale- og Anlægsfonden): The Danish Foundation for Culture and Sports Facilities. LOA’s mission is to develop and support construction within the field of sport, culture and leisure. Founded in 1994, its main focus is to redefine the notion of sports and cultural facilities. In addition to the economic support, the foundation also offers consulting and acts as an independent expert council under the Ministry of Culture.
runs and hiking. A number of new forms of athletics and exercise are constantly evolving, and making new demands on future architectural settings. In order to take the needs of the population as a whole into account, higher quality and more stimulating spaces must be created for the moderate forms of sport. By discussing a number of select international examples of inspiring spaces for the human body and movement, we wish to promote the development of greater diversity in the design of spaces for sports and exercise within Denmark and elsewhere, given that athletic facilities also have an important social and culture-bearing function. The target groups are users and decision-makers within municipalities, sports organizations, clubs etc., investors and sport funding organizations, as well as our architect colleagues who are going to shape the facilities of the future. The idea is to show that it is important to pave the way for more possibilities, if the entire field of sports and both genders are to be taken into account. Often, the very inspiration to think differently can arise by means of admirable visions and examples that can be viewed and discussed; this is an important way to formulate alternatives and ideas that break with tradition and conventional thinking. Origin of the Project This research project originated from, among other things, the fact that since January 2005 the Danish Foundation for Culture and Sports Facilities (in the following referred to as LOA) has had developing sports facilities for the enjoyment of both genders as a special focus area. This led to the establishment of an interdisciplinary task group in 2005, and to a study that was commissioned by LOA3 itself and conducted in 2006 by Kirsten Kaya Roessler, MSc in Psychology and Marie Birch Overbye, MSc in Sociology at the University of Southern Denmark. The investigative study is entitled Women and Men in Athletic Spaces4 and is based on a series of high-quality interviews of adults, both women and men aged 18 and above, actively engaged in sports and exercise. Subsequently, in 2007 this project and the issue was followed up by no. 13 in LOA’s journal series: Architecture, Women and Sports authored by Laura Munch, development consultant at LOA, Mette Mogensen, Architect and Kirsten Kaya Roessler. Gender is at the centre of both publications, and the main emphasis is on women’s positive and negative experiences of indoor and outdoor sports facilities, respectively. There is a clear difference between men and women regarding their expectations of the facilities, their viewpoints about which circumstances bring about a good athletic experience, as well
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as what they perceive as barriers to being physically active. An analysis by Sports Studies (IDAN) entitled ‘Danish Exercise and Sports Habits 2011’ establishes that 55 percent stated their desire to exercise/play a sport is greatly influenced by the quality of the sports centre. During 2005-2013, LOA’s special focus area largely revolved around the needs of women in two parts5: that 1) settings are created which also provide for the sports chosen by many women: gymnastics, fitness, aerobics, dance, yoga etc., and that 2) the structures accommodate, both atmospherically and socially, the way women as well as men utilize sports centres. In 2013, LOA’s field of endeavour also included, among other things, an intensified effort concerning girls’ needs for both indoor and outdoor facilities. Both the study and the 2006-2007 publication were aimed at generating greater awareness in this area; they were also aimed at gathering as well as expanding knowledge and experience to assist with developing sports facilities to the delight of everyone concerned! Indeed, throughout the past few years Denmark has been very fortunate to acquire interesting examples of new kinds of sports centres and multifunctional complexes, plus facilities, for example, for swimming and maritime purposes, parks, jogging and fitness facilities – but the field of interest and the need is far greater. The political spotlight on public health and social development makes it clear that from now on there must be further investments in facilities which appeal to everyone and accommodate many kinds of bodily expression. This applies to both organized and unorganized sports since half of the athletes are not club members, and this number is increasing. However, about 4/5 of children aged 7-15 take part in organized sports. Project Architecture, Body and Space picks up the thread and analyzes a number of international, inspiring examples of new kinds of activity and movement spaces about which the aesthetic and sensory fields have something to say. New kinds of body culture require new surroundings, new architecture! The Book’s Structure For the sake of clarity, we have chosen to divide the book into three different types of main sections + a brief epilogue section – please see the Table of Contents.
Winterbadeschiff in Berlin, by WilkSalinas Architekten (2005), is an urban oasis that offers wellness and bodily indulgence all the year round.
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Part 1 contains the more general texts about the interaction – or lack thereof – between body and spirit, sports and culture, between the Apollonian and the Dionysian. The more recent development of athletics and its architectural settings, historically speaking, including female athletics and the moderate forms of sport are described more closely. It identifies what we mean by moderate forms of sport, and what specifically characterizes them in relation to space and architecture as well as the recent developments in architecture and sports. Finally, there is an introduction to the authors’ three main methodological approaches that were employed for the analytical work and the selection of examples in Part 2. Part 2 presents a range of very different projects, 17 in all, that in many different respects illustrate new directions. Each of them represents a specific qualitative suggestion for one of the possible focus areas within the three analytical fields. Here, the projects are described and analyzed in more detail, and utilizing drawings, sectional views and illustrations. Further the contextual relationship, the spaces’ scale, function and character are explained; and a summative evaluation is carried out which is based on visits and/or dialogue/correspondence with the respective architects. Together, the selected projects function as a kind of conclusion and summary of the book’s recommendations regarding the design of spaces for moderate sports. Part 3 describes the research-related background material in more detail. The text explores our views concerning the most important strategies for designing facilities for the moderate forms of sport: context processing, functional and spatial organization, as well as being conscious of aesthetics and appealing to the senses. The mode of operation within the concurrent sensory field is described in addition to the factors which affect the body’s spatial experience and stimulation of the individual sensory fields. Taking phenomenology6 as the starting point, the correlation between perception and space plus examples of modern research on the interaction between our senses is focused on, supplemented with selected architects’ experiments with space for movement and experience. Excerpts of projects that represent an inspiration in their specific field are used to illustrate these various themes and demonstrate an innovation. Examples are given of the primary, performative spaces where athletics unfold and are experienced, as well as the secondary, transitory spaces that are important zones for service and the social life. Epilogue. At the end of the book, there is a brief summation of the main features and the
Dance studio in Laban Dance Centre in Creekside, southeastern London, by architects Herzog & de Meuron (2003). The project proves the significance of the aesthetic element in spaces for sport and exercise.
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project’s observations about the different methods and focus areas which the examples and their architects represent as a whole.
The temporary Wind-shape Pavilions were designed by nArchitects and built during the summer of 2006 in Lacoste in southern France. With its dynamic design and aesthetic contextuality, the installation offered an iconic venue for concerts, exhibitions and performances.
It is our hope that the book will be experienced as easy to use, and thus an easily accessible source of inspiration. It stems from the objective of presenting a diversity, and should therefore also be of multifaceted use. Of course, the book can be read in its entirety, but it is also intended for delving more deeply into the individual theme sections in order to further explore that field in more detail and find inspiration. Or example-section 2 could be used as a more comprehensive introduction to selected projects that aesthetically, functionally and experience-wise offer a range of qualities that can hopefully generate new ideas – and thereby new spaces for movement – spaces that move you… The Project’s Realization and Gratitude for Support The research project was conducted at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture (KADK), Institute 3, and the Centre for Sports and Architecture (KADK) by Karin Skousbøll, Associate Professor, Architect MAA and Helle Bøcken Wikke Research Assistant, Architect MAA. During phases 1 and 2, the project received financial support from the DGI Foundation, the Bergia Foundation, the School of Architecture’s Institute 3, and the Centre for Sports and Architecture. The English edition of this book was made possible through the greatly appreciated financial support of the Dreyer Foundation, the Bergia Foundation and Realdania. Furthermore, we would like to thank all of the many architects, photographers, as well as others from all parts of the world, who have willingly entered into a constructive dialogue supllying us with valuable information and material. Our heartfelt thanks to all.
part 2 Selected Examples of Spaces for excercise & Moderate Sports
2.15 Siobhan Davies studios 162
Location: 85 St. George’s Road, London, Southwark SE1 6ER, UK Realized: 2002-2006 Client: Siobhan Davies, artistic leader of Siobhan Davies Dance since 1988 Architect: Sarah Wigglesworth Architects
This project is notable for many reasons, not least for its sophisticated materiality and its remarkable tactile/haptic qualities. The architect has managed, in a both sensuous and unexpected way, to combine the existing tactility with new structural elements and materials in highly unconventional juxtapositions that offer immediate experiences and bodily comfort.
Background Siobhan Davies is an internationally acclaimed choreographer whose prime interest is how human thoughts and feelings can be conveyed through dance. Originally educated in London, Davis founded her own dance company, Siobhan Davies Dance, in 1988 on the back of a number of successful collaborations and productions. Both she and the dancers have received numerous awards, and she holds PhDs from two different universities. Since 2001, Davies has deliberately distanced herself from the classical approach to dance in innovative collaborations with artists from other fields, notably sound and music. As a consequence of this development, she and her company began to look for a new base, which they finally found, after ten years of searching and two unrealized projects, in the Southwark area in southern London, near the Elephant & Castle Station and Shopping Centre. Context Like the area around Laban Dance Centre, this location poses a bit of a challenge.
Southwark is undergoing rapid development both culturally and in the form of new architecture, but the area is also heterogeneous and blemished by the heavy-handed renovation that took place after the WWII bombings. The new dance centre is housed in an old boarding school building from 1898, which stands right in the middle of another school’s playground. This location contributes considerably to the soundscape during intervals. The architect Sarah Wigglesworth, who was selected by the client after an interview competition, has had her own office since 1994, specializing in sustainable and resource-efficient design. With that in mind, and in close consultation with the client, she oversaw the extensive rebuilding and expansion of the school building in a project where the structure’s original character was ingeniously retained and interwoven with the new additions to form a unified whole. On the outside, the threestorey red brick building retains its facade and dignity, but a new and unexpected roof structure has been added, a vaulted roof landscape in sky blue fibre glass. Siobhan
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With this conversion of a former boarding school from 1898, Siobhan Davies Studios adds a new roofscape to London’s already sculptural skyline.
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Here in the roof studio, architect Sarah Wigglesworth displays all her artistic abilities, deftly playing on the relationship between form, light and materials. Everywhere in the building meetings take place between the rough and the refined, as the old building’s traces and materiality are reinterpreted in a new context.
Davies explains the idea behind the new dance centre as follows: ‘I was certainly conscious that I wanted enough focus to concentrate, but with a sense of place. We were always talking about movement in the body. Sarah came up with this image that it should be about dancing in the sky'. If the foundations were Victorian, then the top should be 21st century.’ Creative Concept In other words, the existing building gave the architect and the leader of the dance company a strong context for a redefinition. It comprised two wings with a core containing the staircases. In a surgical move, the architect removed this central section in order to make room for the activities and to open up and bring light into the building.
Next, she added a new, transparent box with stairs on the back, facing the schoolyard. These interventions brought out the beauty of the existing brickwork, including traces of stairs and landings, previous apertures and lintels, chimney details and so on. Then came the new layer of alterations: new openings, mending of scars and patching of holes. The aim was to create an intense interplay between dance and architecture while exposing the duality of the horizontal versus the vertical. In her article in Paul Gazzola’s leaflet Coming Soon, Sarah Wigglesworth explains that there is something archaic and ritualized in the act of rising from horizontal to vertical that reminds us of our evolutionary history. She wanted to make a building that recognized and articulated
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Ground-floor plan: 1. and 2. entrance lobby, 3. hall and reception, 4. lounge, 5. meeting room, 6. kitchen, 7. depot, 8. offices/classroom and 9. lavatories. A new extension towards the back contains the stairs and various service functions.
this aspect in the different planes, so that all surfaces – walls, floor, ceiling – became equally important. The large, new element is the roof superstructure with its expressive construction. The new main studio had to have a room height of at least five metres, and the only
place where this was possible was the attic. This made it possible to introduce a larger scale and connect the three separate parts of the complex below. The new studio floor reflects the importance of the horizontal plane, which is apparent as soon as one enters the space. The studio’s wall and
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The rebuilt facade towards the yard follows the pattern of the surrounding Southwark houses, adhering loosely to their rhythm, proportions and materiality.
ceiling structure form a single continuous surface in birch plywood. The roof rises like slices of bread from a package, undulates and swells within and above the outer brick frame, forming ‘slits’ that flood the interior with softly modulated light. Function and Spatial Organization The centre is used throughout the year for practice and education in the form of workshops, masterclasses etc., but also for activities for children of all ages down to threemonth-old babies. The place is also rented out for training, meetings and events. Classes are given in yoga, dynamic flow, Pilates, kathak (Indian classical dance), taekwondo (2000-year-old Korean martial art), African contemporary dance and so on. Besides being home to the dance company, the centre offers a variety of therapies such as physiotherapy, deep tissue massage and bodyworks and relief for people with specific injuries as well as general pains, tensions, anxiety, stress etc. The building is also home
to an artist-led organization called Independent Dance that, among other things, arranges workshops, laboratories and discussions. There are two studios: one under the new, raised roof and, below it, a so-called research studio, an alternative space used for creating and practising new movements and for group-based exercises in, for example, yoga and Feldenkrais (a somatic educational system that aims to extend and improve the individual’s physical function through increased self-awareness). Both studios feature so-called Harlequin sprung floors, built-in, state-of-the-art media and sound equipment and adjustable heating with natural air change. In a building such as this that is organized vertically, with the most public functions at the bottom and the most private at the top, there will always be a zone in the middle where visitors who stroll in from the street have an opportunity to meet the dancers. These spaces promote meetings and exchanges, also among the dancers. In addi-
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tion to this, there are balconies that ‘float’ high above the foyer, serving a specific purpose: as most of the activity in the centre takes place in groups, these balconies are deliberately made quite narrow to provide a secluded space where the individual dancer can take a moment and sense the scale of her/his own body.
The roof studio’s plaited skylights are supplemented with artificial light so that the atmosphere can be retained even after sundown.
Performative Spaces The main dance space is the spectacular roof studio with the new raised roof construction that energizes and ‘accelerates’ the space. With different spatial figurations the studio can seat up to a hundred people. By offsetting the flight of stairs outside the boundaries of the existing building, the architect achieved the desired room dimensions that match the stages where the company performs. The roof’s repeated but offset arch ribs divide the roof lengthwise, adding rhythm to the building and providing a measurable scale, while creating dynamic waves and oscillations across the length of the space. As the ribs join up again further back in the vertical part of the room, they seem to balance out gravity, creating a quiet, coherent backdrop for the dancers. The intake of light through the ‘crisp’, interwoven roof structure is reminiscent of the artistry found in Baroque churches. Thanks to the softly folded form of the ceiling, indirect light filters down into the space with a ‘time lag’. This sophisticated daylight influx is supplemen-
ted with artificial light fittings in the arched girders, with the result that day and night situations resemble each other. The interior design does not include mirrors, as the contemporary dance practised by Siobhan Davies Dance does not include the frontal posture we know from the classical ballet. The dancers instead use the space in all its dimensions, with the floor serving as the basis for preparation and warm-up. Transition Areas The transition areas in this dance complex have very important integrative and practical functions. The new, open central space, which was previously occupied by the stairs, now serves as the connecting link between the different floors; the vertical connection is accentuated by a slanting, lime green column that supports a cantilevered balcony with a separate sofa corner. Acoustically, one also senses the open contact throughout the different levels of the building and the direct connection to the new stairway. The reception desk is integrated into the large space, the whole place buzzing with activity – a buzz that visitors are automatically caught up in. The opposite can be said of the dance studios. Here, the acoustics and the materiality make the spaces seem so soft and intimate that visitors instinctively lower their voices to a whisper. When entering the building from the
street, one sees the back of the illuminated stair extension, the attention automatically focusing on the new glass facade’s Mondrian-like pattern. Climbing the stairs, one becomes aware of the difference between the light outer part and the dense inner part of the complex. The steel staircase landings are frequently used for socialising and training exercises. In order to emphasize the resemblance to an outstretched muscular system, the stairs were suspended from the roof in metal straps, attached to the building like tendons to a bone structure. The bottom step floats above a plinth of five steps cut into the floor level, so that the two barely meet. The new stairway also features a lift and an access platform, installations room, cleaning equipment room with storage at the top. There are two lavatories on the ground floor, but changing rooms, showers and lavatories are otherwise located on the first floor in the old wing above the offices, now rebuilt and decorated in a modern design. The ground floor of the old building contains meeting rooms, a lounge and offices, all of which, though austerely furnished, have a nice, informal atmosphere. As for the materials, there is a deliberate play on contrasts and interesting meetings between old and new. The alterations which have taken place through the ages, including this latest conversion, have left their narrative traces, forming an interesting collage of materials, textures and colours.
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There are also significant contrasts in the way the different spaces are lighted. The building has substantial ‘mass’, with its solid walls with recesses, but this only intensifies the effect of the places where the building opens up. Behind the staircase, the glass wall appears as a quilt of frosted, translucent and transparent glass panels that turns the climb up/ down the stairs into a cinematic and varying experience. Perceptual Impression Sarah Wigglesworth further comments in her Coming Soon article: ‘As human beings we stand on a horizontal surface at right angles to the world, and held in place by gravity. Our eyes are forward-acting and 1.5 metres above ground, give or take. We bend easily in one direction, but not in another. With our two of each – eyes, arms, legs etc. – we are symmetrical around a central axis. This cannot help colouring our perception of the world and the way we interact with it. We accept our inevitable limitations as a matter of course, the body’s inherent ability to perceive space, time and phenomena too often taken for granted and not made full use of. A dancer will constantly explore and challenge the limitations in the physical phenomena and actively measure time and space with his/ her body in a ritualized performance. In buildings such as Siobhan Davies Studios, there is an inherent echo of the body in the
The new room at the back with the suspended steel stairs is a popular place for training.
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existing structures. It is there in the dimensions of the brick (the size that an average human hand can lift), and in the original sizing methods such as hand’s breadth, forearm-hand length, feet, inches etc. So it comes as no surprise that a dancer, more than anyone, is able to understand the scale of a building through the body parts. Stairs and marking out distances have a shared origin: every step that we take is part of a measuring of the vertical dimension. While we were working on the project, these ideas and principles began to acquire a new dimension.’ There is a precise differentiation between the places that one touches with one’s body and the ‘ordinary interspaces’. The materials that make contact with the body are soft and treated with a delicacy that makes one want to touch them. Other walls are left blank, with traces of the past and new interventions forming a dynamic collage that catches the incoming sidelight. There is everywhere a light and airy atmosphere that feels active without being strained in any way. The preserved old building elements and details on the lower floors make the building appear authentic and raw – this is not a place for pussyfooting! The new attic is more sophisticated in appearance, the studio especially is carefully fashioned to accommodate the training process and the wish for bodily contact with the space. With its inherent playfulness and very tactile surfaces, the roof
studio offers creative inspiration and encourages a new approach to movement. Overall Assessment The fruitful collaboration between client and architect has resulted in a coherent and sensuous environment that benefits everyone involved. This is a building that invites touching, from the provocative padded sofa balcony and the wall surface with goat’s hair imbedded in the plastering to the glossy painted surfaces that contrast with the pattern of the raw brick walls. The place strikes a fine balance between respecting/ preserving the existing and boldly adding new, radically different architectural elements. With this place in mind, one can envisage many existing buildings that, with the right amount of sensitivity and consideration, may be converted into new exercise-related facilities; including churches, as has been done in Denmark and other parts of the world. Sarah Wigglesworth conveys her thoughts about the centre, and about space and architecture in general, as follows: architecture is in many ways performative since it is the canvas on which people and events unfold, and the vessel that registers phenomena such as light, view, horizon, scale, texture and time. It is through the body that occurrences happen and are perceived, and the body is therefore our tool for the profound sensory perception of both the phenomenal, the material and the visual.
The Mondrian-like facade of the new stairwell offers intriguing glimpses of life behind the ‘collage’. In the high-ceilinged reception space, where the stairs used to be, a suspended padded balcony offers a cosy sofa corner for relaxation.
While the visual sense often affirms the static form and a frontal perception, the body is able to perceive architecture’s spatial and dynamic dimensions (summarized by the authors). It is quite evident that this dance centre is conceived with and for the body.
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