diploma project FILM THEATRE & ARCHIVE IN LYON, FRANCE
shadow & memory Film theatre and archive in Lyon, France Spring semester, Year 3 (Diploma Project)
The project links the ideas of memory, shadow and physical space by exploring relationships between theatre/performance and memory/archive. Giulio Camillo, a sixteenth century thinker and rhetorician, linked memory and theatre in his famous Memory Theatre project, based on the idea that we remember the best when we link our conceptual to our (stronger) spatial memory by relating memories to certain places (architectural mnemonics). This design task also embraces the idea of shadow as a positive figure in architecture inspired the Story of the Maid of Corinth (AD. 79). Butades was a daughter of a potter living in Corinth and as her lover was to leave for a perilous journey, she traced his silhouette onto the wall to keep his memory. Her father then used the drawing to model a clay relief. If the wall represents architectre, then shadow is seen as the origin of both the graphic and plastic arts, all linked to the potential of architecture and art to embody memory... The project asks for a small theatre for Lyon with real archive needs, but the above mentioned ideas are suggestive of the ways in which architectural places can evoke memories. The theatre is for film enthusiasts focusing on black and white movies, which is an interesting basis to explore the shadow and memory theme and also celebrates the fact that Lyon is the birthplace of cinema. The main auditorium is an indoor performance space for 300 people also suitable for other kinds of performances at different times (but not to the extent of being a neutral warehouse ‘black box’). The building also requires a foyer of appropriate size, a small café/bar/restaurant and relevant support areas (backstage, wc’s, cloakroom, etc.). The archive is designed with special attention to the explosive potential of old films and it also has secure links to a small study room and library space for about 4-6 people, plus office space for 2 members of staff and a curator. The overall project size is between 2000 to 2500 square meters excluding external landscaping.
CONCEPTUAL MONTAGE
using the evocative materials of the ruins around the site to generate a design concept
LYON
seen from Fourviere Hill
LYON
Located in east-central France in the Rhones-Alpes Region, Lyon is 2 hours from Paris and 1.5 hour from Geneva or Marseille. It is the third largest city in France, famous for its historical and architectural landmarks.
LYON
Lyon has a temperate climate, classed as borderline oceanic and humid subtropical, with cool winters and very warm summers. Its topography is dominated by Rhone and Saone rivers. The original medieval city (Vieux Lyon) was built on the west bank of the Saone river. The site is situated on Fourviere, one of the two main hills of Lyon, west to the historical city centre. Lyon was founded on the Fourviere Hill as a Roman colony in 43 BC. Thanks to its convenient location at the convergence of navigable rivers, it soon became the main city of Gaul.
SITE
The site is set in a rich historical context, directly adjacent to Odeum, the smaller one of the two surviving Roman Amphitheatres on the gentle slope of the hill of FourviĂŠre. The Odeum, originally a covered building used for musical performances, public reading as well as meeting place for the notables of the city, has a 3000 seat capacity and was built around 100 A.D. during the reign of Hadrian.
Because of the high cultural value of the historical context, Vieux-Lyon (the neighbourhhod) is protected by Plan for Preservation and Enhancement. Therefore the project requires a highly sensitive design approach.
SITE
ODEUM ESPLANADE
The existing buildings on the site (left handside) are less than a hundred years old, therefore their removal is viable.
“I CAN TAKE ANY EMPTY SPACE AND CALL IT A BARE STAGE. A MAN WALKS ACROSS THIS EMPTY SPACE WHILST SOMEONE ELSE IS WATCHING HIM, AND THIS IS ALL THAT NEEDED FOR AN ACT OF THEATRE TO BE ENGAGED.” Peter Brook: The Empty Space, London, 1968
MEMORIES
By looking at the places I visited during the class trips of my university years, I was exploring the relationship between spaces (in terms of scale, proportion, materials, character and shadows) and the memories they evoke. The photos are taken in Copenhagen, Barcelona, Girona and Lyon.
PRECEDENTS
1. Girona: steps as public seats 2. Aldo van Eyck’s Sculpture Park: parallel walls punctuated with openings to allow glimpses across spaces. 3. Exposed concrete as precedent for materiality. 4. Translucent screens: concept of transparency opposed to opaqueness. 5. Transparent archive allowing the public to see the content yet providing safety. The conceptual sketch model (below and right) is my first spatial proposal for the project. I was interested in creating meaning spaces with different characteristics and a sense of “trapping” history between walls. The process sketch left handside shows an idea that I later abandoned in favour of the original concept, which was simpler but had stronger architectural qualities.
MAIN PLAN
The building is essentiallty a sequence of the public spaces offering jouneys from the street level up to the stage level of the amphitheatre.
FIRST LEVEL PLAN SECTION
Cut at first floor level, the plan reveals all the service spaces hidden below the second floor level: it shows the location of the toilets, storage spaces and the plant rooms for environmental control.
BUILDING ENVELOPE The theatre is covered with opaque and glass roofs
PARALLEL WALLS Structural concrete walls penetrated with openings divide and create spaces
THE “LANDSCAPE” The public floor is basically a man-made landscape consisting of a series of steps
SERVICE SPACES The spaces serving the public levels are located underneath
GROUND LEVEL PLAN SECTION
Cut at ground floor level, the plan reveals the service spaces below the first floor level: the kitchen under the café, the box office, the relationship of the backstage to the dressing rooms and the spaces attached to the Archive.
MAIN SECTION
showing the Auditorium space during the day as a continuous indoor public space connecting the street with the stage level of Odeum
SECTION DURING EVENING
showing the Auditorium space being used during a performance. It becomes a separate space enclosed by two vertically sliding acoustically insulated panels at the front and back that are hidden underground during the day. For theatre performances the vertically moving stage connects the stage to the backstage areas. The adjustable shutters keep out the last rays of the setting sun. The auditorium is mechanically heated/cooled/ventilated from beneath the seating area.
DAYTIME
EVENINGS
SECTION OF A SECONDARY SPACE showing the café and the gallery spaces
ELEVATION
ROOF PLAN
CONNECTION TO THE PAST
The new building becomes an integral part of the ancient Roman structure: despite being contemporary, it conveys a sense of timelessness, a feeling that “it has always been there�. Therefore in its materiality and geometry it is quiet, subtle and respectful to the existing ruins. The end of the steps is linked to the stage level of the Amphitheatre and the roof of the Theatre (not visible on the picture left handside) becomes a viewing platform, that extends from the stage.
MOMENTS
The thick and heavy concrete walls are punctuated with openings allowing views from one space to another: note the feet of the lady going up the steps are visible through a horizontal gap in the left wall. The wide steps of the foyer has been divided up by scattered ‘boxes’ creating an informal seating zone in the middle, leaving the two sides for circulation.
OPEN AUDITORIUM SPACE & NATURAL VENTILATION
The continuity of the spaces in the Theatre is an advantage at its natural ventilation: In the morning the rising hot air from the lower regions (City of Lyon) passes through the building. During the night the descending cold air from the hills provide passive ventilation.
TRANSPARENCY
All the walls perpendicular to the parallel concrete walls are transparent which creates a contrast between rough heavyness and delicate transparency. Note the view of the Amphitheatre through the sky-window.
MATERIALITY
The exposed concrete wall and a more delicate limestone floor are separated by a narrow gap at their junction, into which lighting is installed. The holes in the walls can also be used for seating or displaying artworks. This makes the walls an element of the archive and gives a new layer of meaning in terms of keeping memories by creating shadows.
HANDRAIL DETAIL
Wooden handrail is set into a smooth void carved into the rough concrete wall.
ACCESSIBILITY
A lift in the cafe is available for the disabled people to access the auditorium on first floor
RAINWATER RECYCLING ROOF LEVEL rainwater is gathered by glass roofs with 2 degree slope PUBLIC LEVEL the steel drainage pipe is completely hidden in the concrete wall on the public level
FILTER
PUMP
SERVICE LEVEL the pipe becomes accessible for maintenance purposes in the plant rooms where the greywater is being filtered and pumped back up for flushing toilets
FIRE SAFETY PLAN
The travel distances meet the requirements of the British Building Regulations 2010 Approved Documents Part B1.
DAN LIU
Welsh School of Architecture 2012, Cardiff