Month: August 2019

Soundforms is a mobile acoustic performance shell, designed to bring the quality of an indoor concert hall to the outdoor stage. Able to be built in different sizes, capable of use in a wide variety of weather conditions, and optimised for a wide range of performances, Soundforms is a theatre space for many worlds.

Acoustic principles were fundamental to the development and form of the shell. The core idea for the form came from the notion of a seashell that mythically is able to project the sound of the sea to a listener. The naturally elegant form is a perfect match for the acoustic principles of the design: that of a throat, projecting sound. Analysis of different performance types determined the proportions of the shell interior and reflective surfaces.

Intended for external use in a variety of locations, the shell is portable, and can withstand a wide range of weather systems. With an inflatable skin suspended from an aluminium structure, the design is lightweight and packs into a small space for transport. A series of hung timber acoustic panels allow musicians to hear themselves perform – a rare quality in fabric stages, that ensures a better performance.

The result is a shell designed to project a clearer, louder, and reverberant acoustic. As demonstrated in its summer-long installation at the 2012 London Olympics, Soundforms exists to bring the vibrancy and community of performance to different scales and spaces.

A full symphonic and permanent version of the shell is currently being designed for the San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s Bayfront Performance Park.

Video https://youtu.be/l2zrCvYpW-Y

Portable

Designer Flanagan Lawrence (UK)

Project Collaborators
Client: Soundforms
Architect: Flanagan Lawrence
Engineer: Malcolm Richards
Contractor: Total Solutions and ES Group
Acoustician: Arup Acoustics

Video Collaborators
Producer/Director: Egor Piskov
Client: Mark Stephenson
Architect: Jason Flanagan

Venue Contact
Web: http://www.soundforms.co.uk/

 Designer Contact
Web: https://www.flanaganlawrence.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/flanagan_lawrence/
TW: https://twitter.com/FlanLawArch

Completed in 1931, the Neological synagogue in the historical centre of Žilina is one of the most important buildings in Slovakia to have been built in the modern style. It is the only work in Slovakia designed by renowned German architect Peter Behrens. Its concept was very progressive, it was built entirely out of reinforced concrete. It served the local Jewish community for less than two decades before the tragic World Wall II., after which it housed a university, a concert and theatre hall, and a cinema. Since 1963 it has been a national cultural monument. The reconstruction was started by NGO Truc sphérique in 2011. This association was at that time already running the culture centre Station Žilina- Záriečie. It had rented the building for 30 years from the Jewish Religious Community in Žilina. In 2017 the space re-opened as a centre for contemporary culture. The seven-year reconstruction cost 1.5 million euros, one half of which was covered by private sources. A large part was crowdfunded in a public collection – there were more than 3,000 people who contributed. The second half of the funds came from public sources – particularly the EEA Grants, EU funds, the Slovak Ministry of Culture, and the city of Žilina. The work is worth 2-3 million euros because many things were done for free. The project received the Bauwelt Advancement Award 2013 in Germany and the special prize Patron of the Architecture at the CE-ZA-AR Awards in 2017 and in 2018 in Slovakia. It was nominated for the  European Mies van der Rohe Award in 2018.

Video https://youtu.be/7mSdW51rvHI

Country/Region Žilina, Slovakia

Designer Martin Jančok, PLURAL, Adamov,Blaščák (SK)

Project Collaborators
Iniciator: Marek Adamov, Fedor Blaščák
Head Architect: Martin Jančok
Investor´s Supervision: Ján Gašparovič
Fundraiser: Robo Blaško
Head Restorer: Jan Janda
Owner: Pavel Frankl/Jewish Religious Community
Heritage Supervision: Vladimír Majtán
Architect: Michal Janák, Eva Štrocholcová

Video Collaborators
Director, Editor: Petr Kotrha
Screenwriter: Michal Baláž
Composer: Peter Mikloš
Producer: The Theatre Institute Bratislava

Additional Collaborators
Michal Sirotiak, Katarína Kyselová, Vladimír Kohút, Ondrej Marko, Martin Tencer, Danka Ollahová, Eva Kišková-Červeňanová, Ľubo Keľha, Ján Daniš, Pavol Niňaj, Laura Murguia Sanchez, Lenka Balážová, Jozef Vojtaššák, Zdenka Mikulová, Vladimír Benedik

Venue Contact
Web: https://www.novasynagoga.sk
FB: https://Facebook.com/NovaSynagoga
IG: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/21001506/nova-synagoga-zilina/

Designer Contact
Web: https://www.plural.sk
FB: https://Facebook.com/Plural
IG: https://www.instagram.com/plural_architecture

NL18 is the video dedicated to extraordinary landscape of The Nikola-Lenivets Art Park. In the age of digital networks Nikola-Lenivets Park offers a unique way to escape from digitalised reality. This location full of ancient myth spirits and great art potential. There are several theatrical festivals take place each year.

A new stage begins in the history of Nikola-Lenivets after 2000. Painter Nikolay Polissky opened a new page in his work. Leaving the easel, canvas and oil paints, he made a project unusual for Russian art of that time: a landscape installation from snow.

At the beginning of the new journey, Nikolay Polissky created projects with peasants, local residents from the nearby villages. The joint work of the artist and peasants became the conceptual foundation of the project, and in many ways defined the aesthetics, the value system, and the spirit of freedom.

Residents  Vasily Kopeiko, Anna Shchetinina, and Vasily Shchetinin joined in the festival organisation. Hospitality and cuisine were provided by the people of nearby villages. Yulia Bychkova and Anton Kochurkin took on the curatorial work and managed to invite more than two dozen architects to the first Arkhstoyanie Festival.

Thanks to the work of Nikolay Polissky and the Arkhstoyanie Festival, the area around the village began to filled with art objects occupying more and more new spaces. The abandoned village fields and forests began to transform into an art park with space for exposition and service infrastructure.

Video https://youtu.be/cKfQXZ3nsWk

Country/Region Kaluga Region, Russia

Designer Sergej Morozov (RU)

Project Collaborators
Director: Sergej Morozov
Composer: Dmitri Kourliandski
Cinematographer: Maxim Khokholov
Drone Operator: Alexander Korolev
Costume Designer: Alexandra Kharina
Performer: Victor Timofejev

Venue Contact
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011700194479

Designer Contact
Web: http://en.nikola-lenivets.ru
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Nikola.Lenivets/

“Voices for the transformation of Colombia” is the first exhibition part of the historical memory museum of Colombia. It took place for the first time in Bogotá as a 1,400 square meter ephemeral pavilion. It’s an exhibition that not only explains the conflict, but brings in different questions about what Colombians think and conceive the conflict has been. This is also a space that promotes encounter and a place to talk about difficult and emotional topics, so it has to respond to local idiosyncrasy, that make people comfortable having these conversations. This exhibition has a lighter version that may travel to different places throughout the country as a pilot to test the museum script in different regions of Colombia.

Video https://youtu.be/tSu894ZWDAM

Country/Region Colombia

Designer Laura Cuervo Restrepo, Antonio Yemail (CO)

Project Collaborators
Museum Director: Luis Carlos Sanchez
Exposition Director And Curator: Cristina Lleras
Curatorial Team: Museology Team
Scenographer And Art Director: Laura Cuervo Restrepo
Architecture: Antonio Yemail
Realization: H&G Studios
Production: 10 Music

Video Collaborators
Written and Edited: Laura Cuervo Restrepo
Voice: Laura Cuervo Restrepo, Cristina Lleras
Audiovisual Material: Daniel Sarmiento, Juan Pablo Daza, Maria Camila Suarez, Bild film

Venue Contact
Web: http://museodememoria.gov.co/

Designer Contact
Web: https://www.lauracuervorestrepo.com/

Flowstate is a multi-arts platform commissioned to activate a public parkland with contemporary visual and performing arts practices. The steel portal frame structures of two existing buildings were re-purposed; The Pavilion is an open air venue equipped with sound and light tech. and The Green Room, is a grassy relaxation zone defined by the bones of the original structure. Stukel Stone harnessed the metaphor of “the body”; bones, soft tissue, and neural activity to establish the agenda for the design of the site –  an exquisite responsive digital light/ sound installation Jem, by Melbourne based company ENESS is set within the former central courtyard and is the heartbeat/neural hub of the site.

Flowstate is designed to blur the distinctions between artistic disciplines, public space, landscape, and the built environment. It also allows for a multiplicity of audience and performer relationships – in 2018 a year long program of contemporary dance, installations, and community workshops showcased emerging and established artists.

Spread over 3,000sqm of parkland, Flowstate provides a creative podium for Queensland’s independent arts sector and is South Bank Corporation’s contribution to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Video https://youtu.be/L84xjlwyvL0

Country/Region Queensland, Australia 

Designer Tobhiyah Stone Feller,  Daniel Stukel Beasly (formerly Stukel Stone) (AU)

Project Collaborators
Planner: Julia Scodellaro, South Bank Corporation
Creative Director: Lyndal Hall, South Bank Corporation
Lead Designer/Architect: Daniel Stukel Beasly
Lead Designer/Performance Designer: Tobhiyah Stone Feller
Design Team: Jeff Tighe, Jarrod Phillips
Installation Design: Eness
Builder: Bedford Built
Structural Engineer:  MPN Consulting
Electrical & Mech Engineer: Interior Ehngineering

Video Collaborators
Company: Pixel Repeat
Videographer: David D’Arcy
Script: Lyndal Hall, Tobhiyah Stone Feller
Voice Narration: Lyndal Hall

Additional Collaborators
Mitchell Brandtman, Bill Delves, Nick Paine, Brodie Peace, Caitlin Dooley, Andrew Gott, Chelsey Smith

Venue Contact
Web: http://flowstate.southbankcorporation.com.au/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/flowstatesb/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/flowstatesb/?hl=en

Designer Contact
Web: https://www.stukelstone.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/stukelarchitecture/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/stukel_stone_archive/?hl=en

Tampico, Tamaulipas is one of the cities most affected by violence in Mexico. In 2017, a scenic project began inside of an abandoned airplane. Now, this airplane is a continuous intervention scene organized by the Mexica program Theater for the End of the World. Generating an alternative treatment to organized crime among the Mexican community. Promoting aesthetic creation platforms in theater design and devastated architecture in contexts of violence. I feel that the project is facing the territory in conflict, putting in context that Mexico is a country where the violence lives, abuse of power, drugs trafficking, and the facting power of the country. I feel we are very lucky to work on the plane, we could talk about life and death. From the transparency, we could talk about the border, we could talk about the periphery.That the plane was abandoned suggested a lot.

Video https://youtu.be/ykEN3caxpH4

Country/Region Tamaulipas, Mexico

Designer Angel Hernández (MX)

Project Collaborators
Stefany Duarte, Estefania Vega, Sabina Hernández, Mario Deance, Lucero Arreola, Nora Arreola

Video Collaborators
Victor Casanova, Moises Guzmán, Esduardo Hinojosa

Additional Collaborators
Refugio Hernández, Aurelio Hernandez, Mario Alberto Hernandez

Venue Contact
Web: https://teatroparaelfindelmundo.blogspot.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Teatroparaelfin/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

Designer Contact
Web: http://angelhernandezarreola.blogspot.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/angel.hernandezarreola

The Alley Theatre has enriched lives of Houstonians for over 70 years; it’s one of the three oldest resident theatres in the United States. The Alley produces more than 500 performances yearly of a broad repertoire and innovative productions of the classics with a Resident Company of actors. This project is the first major renovation to the iconic Ulrich Franzen building since its opening in 1968.

The project focused on bettering the experience of the patron and the actor, as well as creating a modern theater with greater flexibility to accommodate theatrical and technical demands of today’s creative teams. The shape of the house was reworked to create a tighter audience radius, remove sight-line obstructions and double the size of the stage with a deeper thrust, which provides the audience a more intimate experience with the actors. Back of house was re-designed to provide Break Rooms, Dressing Rooms, Green Room, Warm-Up Room, a Trap Room beneath the stage and a four-story flyloft with a fully automated rigging system. The lobby and front of house for public and staff was enhanced with the creation of pre-function spaces, enlarged restrooms, and catering facilities. Without changing the basic architectural layout, interior or exterior, the renovation has transformed the theatre from top to bottom. The design modernized the facility while keeping the rich history and tradition of the Alley intact. The essence of the beloved building was not changed, yet the renovation improved the patrons’ experience and created a space that is capable of producing a wide-range of shows.

Video https://youtu.be/6cz15JYB1bw

Country/Region Texas, United States

Designer Studio Red Architects (US)

Project Collaborators
Partner – In – Charge, Architect: Pete Ed Garrett
General Manager, Alley Theatre: Ten Eyck Swackhamer
Project Manager, Architect:  Jared Wood
Associate Director for Design, Alley Theatre:  Kevin Rigdon
Project Architect:  Gwyndolyn Mowbray
Theatre Designer:  Bill Conner
Acoustician:  Mark Holden

Video Collaborators
Producer:  Small Screen Producers
Coordinator:  Meeks Marketing

Additional Collaborators
Cardno Haynes Whaley, BURY, Charter Sills, Irvine Team, DG Studios, Worrell Design Group, Hughes & Associates

Venue Contact
Web: https://www.alleytheatre.org/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/alleytheatre/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/alleytheatre
TW: https://twitter.com/alleytheatre

Designer Contact
Web: https://www.studioredarchitects.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/StudioREDArchitects/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/studioredarchitects
TW: https://twitter.com/StudioRED

To the present day the appearance of Berlin is still marked by war-time damage. Firewalls and vacant gaps still feature on the face of the German capital. The present studio theatre of the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Art was built as a dance hall in 1890 and later served as a backyard cinema in the 1920s. The bombing during the Second World War exposed the interior of the block, revealing an ensemble that is today a listed monument. The renovation was to be used to create a laboratory space that offers the students plenty of opportunities for aesthetic and spatial experiments and new kind of narratives. The design by Ortner & Ortner Baukunst therefore envisages the creation of more open space and flexibility by removing unnecessary boundaries. The auditorium and parts of the side wing were completely gutted. Unnecessary internal walls, columns, and suspended ceilings were removed. The new spatial sequence incorporates the working life of the theatre both functionally and in spatial terms. Together the reorganised entrance situation and the large foyer with its restrained white surfaces and red screed floor prepare for the studio stage in an appropriate way. Through the materials used the second foyer provides a transition to the studio stage, which is made as a black box. The students can adapt the fittings flexibly, they can use the stage equipment themselves and operate it from the theatre space. The red brick walls were stripped of plaster and now offer both hard-wearing display surfaces and a background for performances.

Video https://youtu.be/2asIifk-B64

Country/Region Berlin, Germany

Designer Ortner&Ortner Baukunst (DE)

Project Collaborators
Project Leader and Managing Partner: Roland Duda
Project Leader: Tobias Ahlers
Architect: Nino Schiddel

Video Collaborators
Creator, Concept and Editing: Alma Grossen
Directing Teacher, bat Studio Theatre: Britta Geister
Actors: Students of the Ernst Busch Academy of Performing Arts
Technical Team bat Studio Theatre: Stephan Hannemann

Additional Collaborators
Hannah Naumann, Markus Müller, Alexandra Spitsa

Venue Contact
Web: https://www.bat-berlin.de
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ortnerortner/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/hfs_ernst_busch/?hl=de
TW: https://twitter.com/HfSErnstBusch?lang=de

Designer Contact
Web: https://ortner-ortner.com/en
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ortnerortner/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/ortnerortner/?hl=de
TW: https://twitter.com/ortnerortner?lang=de

Poetic Theatre is full of lights and sound in the 9m×4m wide two story. All we can see in the structure is minute flow of lights and flats for spacial division.

In some spaces there isn’t even a quiver and only when all nerves are focused a streak of light can barely be discovered. By the time you get used to the area, you will be searching for the fountainhead of the sound only to learn that it’s not easyto find the answer. The sound comes from outside. Some from quite a distance away, and others effuse into the space from right beyond the wall.

It’s not only lights and sound that moves and stops. It’s the same for the visitors. They’d stay for a certain time and while they repeat moving and pausing, during that time they observe the area, what they discover is themselves constantly reacting to the lights and sounds along with interacting with the space. The time of stay offers the audience a time of contemplation.

The lights and sounds that became the base of a confidential experience that can only be done alone has come from outside. “Me” nor “the space I am occupying” cannot exist apart from the exterior. It is the reason why theatres exist to present the process of ruminating our real life out of the theatre through gazing into ourselves and then experiencing that we are linked with the outside world.

The «Poetic Theatre» is intending to become an installation theatre. It is gladly willing to be placed at a site of historical memories, in the middle of a busy city, at a square where diverse people come and go, and also a field of a secluded countryside village.

Video https://youtu.be/siPdUbPBczA

Country/Region Berlin, Germany

Designer Ortner&Ortner Baukunst (DE)

Project Collaborators
Project Leader and Managing Partner: Roland Duda
Project Leader: Tobias Ahlers
Architect: Nino Schiddel

Video Collaborators
Creator, Concept and Editing: Alma Grossen
Directing Teacher, bat Studio Theatre: Britta Geister
Actors: Students of the Ernst Busch Academy of Performing Arts
Technical Team bat Studio Theatre: Stephan Hannemann

Additional Collaborators
Hannah Naumann, Markus Müller, Alexandra Spitsa

Venue Contact
Web: https://www.bat-berlin.de
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ortnerortner/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/hfs_ernst_busch/?hl=de
TW: https://twitter.com/HfSErnstBusch?lang=de

Designer Contact
Web: https://ortner-ortner.com/en
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ortnerortner/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/ortnerortner/?hl=de
TW: https://twitter.com/ortnerortner?lang=de

Migration captures and shares the identity of places, the memory of yesterday, and the blank page of tomorrow.

By deploying an architectural kit composed of polymorphic panels, Migration interferes with the city, the neighboring residents, inhabitants and passers-by, giving free rein to a collective intelligence.

Each performance event becomes a time of experimentation and reflection shared with audiences on the definition of an alternative urbanity. Thinking of a mobile and evolutionary city, Migration takes and transforms what already exists, offers a space for cultural exchange, values social innovation, and searches for economic alternatives.

Migration consists of audio-visual spaces, listening areas, reading and free expression zones, performance stages, which adapt to each context and evolve on different sites. The architectural modules deployed in the public space can integrate sound, light, and videos. Hereby they become a projection area and can be modulated as an interactive and audiovisual display.

The site specific and spectacular performances of that contextual work, for free and in public place, increase the number of people directly involved.  The material (tangible and intangible) shared by all persons involved allow a territorial anchorage. Tailor-made and connected to its audiences its presence can be sighted immediately leaving a trace after it has departed. Through Migration, experiences of living together at the scale of contact are practiced: social immersion, appropriation of architectural structures, (inter)-cultural permanence.

Video https://youtu.be/COLtRE0jFtE

Country/Region Lyon, France

Designer KompleX KapharnaüM (FR)

Project Collaborators
Artistic Director – KompleX KapharnaüM: Pierre Duforeau
Artistic Director – KompleX KapharnaüM: Stéphane Bonnard
Architect and graphic designer – Collectif J’MRé: Romain Corre
Engineer – Les Structographes: Simon Zerbib
Assistant Project Manager: Frédérick Borrotzu
Construction – Cabestan: Thomas Basseguy
Construction – Cabestan: Yannick Chay

Video Collaborators
Recording and Editing: Marcello Valente
Photos: Thomas Basseguy, Vincent Muteau

Additional Collaborators
Pauline Bance, Cabestan, Elodie Elsenberger, Gilles Gallet, Marion Gatier, Vincent Guillermin, Adrien Jolivet, Floriane Rigaud, Timothée Ritlewski, Doriane Roche, Nicolas Thiry, Arnaud Van Cortenbosch, Clément Rossi

Venue Contact
Web: https://www.kxkm.net/fr/projets/migration
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Komplexkapharnaum/

Designer Contact
Web: https://www.collectifjmre.com/#/maps
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Collectif-JMR%C3%A9-1771536896393829/