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Experimental Dance School
Experimental Dance School
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Experimental Dance School
SIZE
10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft
The goal of this dance school is to help all people who come in contact with it become more aware of their ability to move. Studios are proportioned to emphasize the primary axes of movement as described by German dance pioneer Rudolph von Laban - Horizontal, Vertical, Saqittal (forwards/backwards) and diagonal, with one "Neutral" (cubic) studio. The building is arranged with support spaces along the partis wall, dance spaces (studios and performance space) pushed to the street front for maximum visibility, and the vertical circulation core visually and physically connection all levels of the building. The performance space meets the public at street level, with the ability to be completely opened to the street corner in good weather, inviting passerbys to hang out on the step-benches and turn the the space into an urban stage for impromptu performances. The circulation becomes an additional studio/performance space for site-specific, improvizational and experimental dance. As the the floating stair expands to 12 feet wide in the lobby and gradually contracts to three feet wide at the top, it allows dances to interact with the boundaries of the space around them and use the steel suspension rods as a support for movements that would not be possible in the open space of the dance studios. Interaction between passerby and dance, a critical aspect of site-specific dance, also becomes possible in the constrained space of the stair. As the stair wraps around the vertical studio, the user has the opportunity to understand the dance occur within it from different perspectives. At each level, support spaces, faculty and administrative offices, and studios are organized around and social gathering space adjacent to the main circulation, inviting interaction, and mutual inspiration through dance between all users of the building. The indoor/ outdoor stretching space is located at the top of the building, connecting to the rooftop garden. The garden provides a beneficial connection to nature for the dancers while also offering a venue for nature-inspired site-specific dance. I explored program arrangement, structure, and systems of enclosure were extensively through study models. I choose a combination of 3 structural systems in order to emphasize the light floating quality related to dance; in the words of Doris Humphrey, dance occurs between balance and falling. A system of rigid steel rods suspends the floating wood stair; the exterior and studio wall float glass is hung from steel tubes and offset by anther six inches by steel rods to further emphasize the quality of floating and lightness, and a rigid steel frame glad in brushed alluminum sheet makes up the rest of the structure. Ligthing for the studios is achieved through indirect LED light strips, inset from the floor by 6 inches to provide ambient light while further defining the fundamental dimensions of the room for the dancer as he finds his spatial pulls. The LED strips have the ability to change colors, turning the studios into floating lanterns that announce evening performances. The materials throughout are meant to stimulate the tactile senses as a means of awakening awareness of the body: warm word on the floors, cold metal on the walls and ceilings, and the composite hammered metal and carved wood railing, dance bar, and door handle element running throughout the building. From the first moment that a visitor enters the building, awareness of her body is awakened as she clasps the front door handle, feeling the warm sanded wood on her palm and the cold hammered metal on her fingertips...
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