We approached this project taking as a starting point the retaining wall. It was so
important to us that it is the basis of our concept. We intent it as a protection towards what there is inside: a great treasure that is just born.
To do that, we developed our project emptying everything that was inside the retaining wall and we designed a new system within it.
The core of our project -in this sense the “treasure”- is the pyramidal auditorium. The vertices of its base, touching the retaining wall, create niches that acts as a servant spaces for the great room.
The section given by the auditorium permits us to develop the upper floor leaning it on the pyramid itself. This floor hosts the rehearsal rooms and the office area. The corridor that links all these rooms follows the shape of the pyramid, acting as a filter between these two worlds. In all the building the people experience the stage, in the main room, and the backstage in all the other areas.
Simultaneously, we wanted to treat the outer space with the same hierarchy.
In this sense, we designed the entrance part of the plot as a piazza, where people could meet and be free to arrange this space as they want. They would use the high existing wall as a screen to project movies or as a stage for performing arts or even as a wall for making graffiti. In front of this high wall, the empty piazza would host them as public with temporary seats or it could also become a place for food markets and local fairs.
In the back, we wanted to provide a more private outer space. Through a peaceful palm garden, people could find a place to rest and relax or arrive on the roof of the building, where the top of the pyramid comes out reach the sunlight.