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Piranesi Circus
Piranesi Circus
Chicago, IL, United States
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Other Projects by Atelier Bow-Wow
Piranesi Circus
Chicago, IL, United States
Firm
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2015
The courtyard of the Chicago Cultural Center is inaccessible, even though it is visible from all sides of the building. This suffocating relationship enhances the perception of the courtyard as a void in the middle of the building. The proposition of bringing people into the courtyard presents several difficulties — not environmental or physical concerns, but rather issues with security, safety, and facility management. In this sense, the void is actually a “prison” governed by the functional rules of everyday life. The allegory behind G.B. Piranesi’s Carceri d’Invenzione (Imaginary Prisons) could be recalled for this void space as a means to critique the constraints of daily life.
By introducing several suspended elements for movement and circulation, the courtyard is transformed into a marriage between an imaginary prison and a circus. A path of ramps accessible from the bottom of the courtyard leads until one of the large arched windows, with several benches along the way offering privileged viewpoints from where look up and observe the scenario above. A long ladder leaning against the western façade provides an imaginary access to the roof. A suspended bridge visually extends the vertical path of the stairs out into the courtyard. As the immovable glass of the window negates access from within, the stairway continues further up, finding its way out to the roof. A cantilevered balcony extending from another window becomes an occasional point of access to a swing, suspended above the courtyard. All the elements - the ramp, ladder, suspended bridge, cantilevered balcony, and swing - are not accessible to the general public, but are rather for the use of circus performers — or for imaginary prisoners.
The effort of gaining physical access to this void space reveals the behavioral capacity related to accessibility and limitations that currently exist for general public. It describes the state of the art of the courtyard on October 2015.
By introducing several suspended elements for movement and circulation, the courtyard is transformed into a marriage between an imaginary prison and a circus. A path of ramps accessible from the bottom of the courtyard leads until one of the large arched windows, with several benches along the way offering privileged viewpoints from where look up and observe the scenario above. A long ladder leaning against the western façade provides an imaginary access to the roof. A suspended bridge visually extends the vertical path of the stairs out into the courtyard. As the immovable glass of the window negates access from within, the stairway continues further up, finding its way out to the roof. A cantilevered balcony extending from another window becomes an occasional point of access to a swing, suspended above the courtyard. All the elements - the ramp, ladder, suspended bridge, cantilevered balcony, and swing - are not accessible to the general public, but are rather for the use of circus performers — or for imaginary prisoners.
The effort of gaining physical access to this void space reveals the behavioral capacity related to accessibility and limitations that currently exist for general public. It describes the state of the art of the courtyard on October 2015.
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