David Stamatis_ Cirque Performance Space

DS from David Stamatis on Vimeo.



As Performance Space Typologies the Opera and Circus are on opposite ends of the typology spectrum. Cirque Du Soliel shows are a kind of a hybrid between the two.

In the plan of the Paris Opera House the figure ground of performance space compared to back of house, amenities, and procession is a very small proportion. In the Barnum & Baily Big Top plan there is the opposite effect with almost the entire plan devoted to performance space.

This project utilizes a moving element to fluidly transition between these typologies.


The first move was a typology shift as well as a formal idea. Called the TRI FLY.

So, here we take the traditional theater setup with flytower side and back stages and perform a series of operations. The first of which deletes the side stages and splits the flytower and backs stage into two.The second operation cants the flytowers and lifts the backstage chunks up in the air. The last operation cants the substage to create a third diagonal fly that comes from below the ground.

This gives the performance hall the advantage of three separate multi-use backstage areas with direct diagonal access to the hall.


As a visitor to the performance center you have three options in terms of seeing a show. The first is that you pay for a normal ticket and go directly from the bifurcated lobby to the performance hall and watch the show from conventional seats. The second option would be just to enter the public restaurant and lounge side of the building and you would see the back stage performance with a few glimpses into the hall as the grid moves open and closed. The third option would be to go see the first show of the night as a backstage show while eating dinner then going to see the second show in the hall.

CELENE LEHRER - Cirque Du Soleil Theater

Video Presentation

This project is a nod to historical outdoor theaters, re-conceptualized through form and motion within the busy city.  Formally, there are two interacting systems: a faceted, semi-transparent skin that acts as envelope and provides noise reduction, and a secondary system that provides a partial black box, and becomes volumetric in order to create seating, stage, fly tower, sound booth, speakers, and truss systems for lighting and performers...  People get to experience walking under, around, and slipping through and into this system as it follows them throughout the theater.  At night, when the theater lights are on, glimpses of the performers, as well as the secondary system, show through to the city.  

Incorporated into the secondary system, the moving element of the building both engages with the city, as well as dives into the building itself, carving its motion path through the central core.  In its initial position as facade, it acts as marquee during the day.  As the performance approaches, it pivots open to become an awning, where theatergoers are able to experience this massive structure above head as they gather and enter the theater.  Once people take their seats, this portion of the building performs one last motion, as it raises back to facade and then penetrates the building, rotating into place as it becomes the main stage.   The issue of encloser is addressed with 2 layers of the semi-transparent skin, which sandwich the motion element.  Depending on the direction of the motion, the opposing slice remains in place. 

Plan

 Section

Context Photographs

 Detail Photographs

LAUREN RATH - "Skin Tight" Cirque du Soleil theater

Skin Tight: a circus from Lauren Rath on Vimeo.

Skin Tight brings the excitement and spectacle of the circus out onto the streets.  Masked in a costume of rubberized fabric, the building enacts its own performance—as a jumbo-sized street performer—animating during performances and rehearsals when mechanized interior stage elements and rooms poke into the elastic skin.  During off-hours, the building poses as tableau vivant, and is overtaken by an unnatural stillness, countered by the subtle, nearly-imperceptible motion of its protuberant bar and cafe.  

In action, the façade wrapper hints at the motions of the interior performance, without betraying the ulterior, much like peeking around the edge of a circus tent might exacerbate the sense of anticipation and curiosity about the show.  The façade is proportioned like a billboard.  It can transform from being completely blank to a raised state of hyper-relief, emphasizing the façade’s complicated history mediating sign and signified.

The exterior draws upon the iconic shape of the circus tent and the motion of “raising the bigtop”.  The interior is amassed like a contortionist in a box, turned onto itself.  Upon entering the building, guests follow a sequence of encounters with the supple building skin, its fixed internal walls, and the sliding stage elements and rooms, emphasizing the nested closeness and interiority of the building.  People will feel as though they are “inside the machine”, a world unto itself, drawn through the sequential spaces by anticipatory views of what’s next.  Space is choreographed through a sequential progression of experiential vignettes during the ascent from entry to foyer and into the theater.  Interspersed bar and café areas offer intersecting views across the atrium.  Drawer-like moving rooms dock against each other before a performance and during intermissions, condensing social encounters and highlighting amusements during non-performance times.  

Within the theater auditorium, the stationary audience is treated to an immersive theatrical spectacle.  The radical frontality of the traditional proscenium is countered by moving stage elements that emerge from behind and above the audience, punctuating the performance with anticipation and surprise. 

 

Rudy Spiridon_Winter2013_Cirque_Theater

Stop Motion

Site Model

 Ground Floor Plan

ANDREW RAFFEL CIRQUE TASK

Andrew Raffel_Cirque du Soleil_A Theater

Playing on the notion of performers engaging with theaudience, the concept of the theater looks to amplify that experience and turnthe entire design into a performance.

The programmatic layout of the project is such that the sidestage of the theater occupies a void created between the seating and lobby.Several portions of the building open themselves to transform this void spaceinto a plaza in which performer and patron are able to interact with each otherin a more intense fashion. The objects have been designed to open and revealbackstage elements as well as carry performers and equipment related to theshow.

There are 4 objects placed throughout the project; one whichopens the backstage to the city, one which opens the stage to the lobby, one whichopens the equipment storage to the side stage/ void, and finally one that opensthe lobby to the side stage/void. By revealing portions of the show at strategic moments, itallows for the entire experience of attending the theater to become a performanceas soon as a patron enters the space.

Plans

Section

Objects