students’ gallery Play and Power Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands (exchange student from UAUIM, Bucharest) Architecture, Building and Planning Alexandra Gabriela Epure 2012-2013
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he master project studio focused on studies of movement through space and how the body experiences the space surrounding it as a base premise for design. The first weeks were an intensive study in body movement, choosing and further analysing a dance as the spatial relationship created between the dancer (choreographer or space - writer) and the performance space as a written space for movement through.
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fter that, a building of our choice was to be analysed from the spatial point of view, with its spatial qualities versus movement through the building. Finally, the architectural design was to be developed illustrating a program that we never designed before. After a hallucinating immersion into dance as spatial movement, the design aimed at studying the space sequences that the body moving through will experience. An alluring adventure into a moving world....
The study of movement through space transformed from the very beginning into a challenging movement through ideas. First, there was the challenge of understanding the movement as it is expressed through dance and then the analysis of body moving through architecture. The study I made on the Panopticon Prison from Breda, The Netherlands, encompasses this process of understanding both the movement and the building - the movement as a play and the building as a concept of power.
The design came out natural - the prison had to let itself violated by the bodies inside (as Bernard Tschumi would say), in a scenario that best fitted the study in movement. A scenario that would have the crowds inside moving through the same space the prisoners used and would praise the impressive domed interior. Nothing fits better here than a theatre...
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he prison has a series of spatial qualities besides it’s recognized historical value as the architectural figure of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon and its special position into the historical centre of Breda. The analysis of movement through space in the building made me think about the games that this building plays when you enter inside. First of all, it is a game of scale that this building plays skilfully on one’s perception of space. The space simply invades your view from the moment you approach
the building. Gradually, you are overwhelmed by its greatness. Secondly, there is a game of symmetry. Everywhere you look, the interior exhibits the same array of elements, that surround you from each side you look. The game of power is the most intense game that the building plays. It simply conquers you and inherently attracts you towards the centre, just like Bentham thought of it when he placed the prisoners around the watchtower.
Cells building+ 2 floors underground
Administration building
Service building Staircase towers
Prison spaces Dynamic platforms for seating and stage filling the underground levels Covered courtyard _ Steel structure_ Entrance foyer Performers spaces
Theatre spaces Photos of the prison in Breda
bordered Tall gate by towers
Cross section with the theatre’s spaces
Studies on movement through space
1. The front courtyard is covered and becomes and Entrance Foyer
2. A glimpse of the Auditorium is seen through the front door
3. The previous Administration Building is now used an Entrance Hall
4. The narrow corridor that leads you to the Auditorium
5. At the end of the corridor you see a frame of the great interior
6. The Auditorium! The light invades the space where ballerinas dance
Interior rendering with the prison’s Cells Building transformed into the theatre’s Auditorium
Steel structure Covered courtyard
Stage machinery hall+ orridor for Entrance C cess e c Box offi public ac
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s ical space
Extended forklifts
er Stairs tow
rs tume Performe ms Cos o ro g in s dres stores