{"id":148748,"date":"2022-09-28T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/?p=148748"},"modified":"2022-11-12T05:39:08","modified_gmt":"2022-11-12T10:39:08","slug":"cincinnati-ballet-margaret-michael-valentine-center-for-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/practice\/details\/cincinnati-ballet-margaret-michael-valentine-center-for-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"GBBN Designs Inspiring Modern and Inclusive Space for the Cincinnati Ballet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Project Status: Built<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Year: 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Size: 25,000 sqft – 100,000 sqft<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Cincinnati Ballet: Margaret & Michael Valentine Center for Dance <\/strong>\u2013 Cincinnati Ballet knew they were on the precipice of substantial growth, but they were so constrained by their previous location that it was hard to imagine what that would look like. So, when they came to us, we talked to everyone who used the space \u2013 everyone who danced there, who trained there, who worked there. They were all on the same page. They wanted to maintain the high caliber of dance and rigorous instruction\/discipline. They wanted room to grow. And they wanted to breakdown barriers associated with classical ballet (regarding race, ethnicity, body shapes, and physical abilities). They wanted a modern, inclusive space that anyone could see themselves in.<\/p>\n

Architizer chatted with Marcene Kinney, AIA, Principal, Director of Arts at GBBN<\/a> to learn more about this project.<\/p>\n

Architizer: What inspired the initial concept for your design?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Macrene Kinney: We really wanted to do two things with the design. On the one hand, we wanted to break down barriers \u2013 to acknowledge that dance is this fundamentally human experience, and that it\u2019s for everyone. This shaped the choice of location. It was significant that it sits within a diverse community. It also drove the design\u2019s effort to open the building up, so people could see into the studios and envision themselves there. At the same time, all that glass opens up incredible views of downtown Cincinnati, Eden Park, and the surrounding hills while flooding the space with natural light.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the design sought to express the grace and power of dance. The site was quite challenging. It\u2019s oddly shaped and steeply graded, but we were able to cantilever pieces of the building and stack the studios in a way that is expressive of the energy of dance itself.<\/p>\n