Playground for the Performing Arts

Abstract

This project is a thematic investigation of the relationship between inside and outside, public and private, and how the thresholds between them can stimulate play in the city. This is explored in two key ways - firstly, on a spatial and material level it involves complex overlapping, intersecting and superimposed planes of geometry that result in a rich collection of implied spaces, spaces of tension, and spatial affordances that invite people to explore the topography, and wander at will. Secondly, the project reinterprets traditional notions of public and private program. It is designed as an inhabitable sculpture, or a 'playground for performing arts,' with multiple levels and stages, differing in proportion and atmosphere; spaces framed by each other. Instead of a public building with some public spaces in and around it, it is a hybrid of public building and outdoor space, a super-sized structure that invites people to wander around and climb it, to see and be seen. There are minimal indoor spaces dotted around for essential services such as toilets, lobby, storage and services. This allows the project to be utilised by many different groups for many activities. By creating a space that is almost entirely open, it provides an alternative urban experience in a city that is otherwise defined by sharp divisions of space.