Archipelago Theatre | USYD Design Studio 3B | Undergraduate Graduation Project

ogalepihcrA Archipelago Archipelago 群 岛

Archipelago Theatre

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Dreamland Lab

Archipelago Theatre

Designed by Bevis

500319527 Zhangyan YE

Instructor: Sean Akahane-Bryen Thanks: Justine Anderson, Tiffany Liew and Group 4 Many Thanks: The University of Sydney

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Archipelago Theatre

Introduction My project is called Archipelago Theatre, and it is an amalgamation of a group of floating theatres located in Blues Bay. I chose this site because I felt it responded well to the issue of symbolism in Sydney. For international students like me, the clean white image of the Sydney Opera House has become the quintessential symbol of Sydney and Australia. But the city of Sydney is much more than just the opera house. Sydney's citizens have their own culture and stories, but because of creating a masterpiece, the city's image is instead trapped in a maritime building.

So I wanted to respond to the city's symbolism with a freedom that I can only find in academic design. I was in another hemisphere of the world for a whole semester and could not be close to Sydney's harbour and Sydney's culture. Thus, I went about this design in a slightly playful way. I was creating a trap for myself. And the design, once completed, meant that I, the author, would have to jump into the pit and fill myself in.

As the designer of this project, I have to acknowledge the irony it presents: the theatre is a naked maritime theme park. But the theme park turned out to be what I intended it to be. Firstly I come from an Eastern civilisation and am not familiar with the culture and land of Australia. Secondly, I was a student and still did not know architecture deeply, and I never could write poetry by construction. So I thought, why not just tell a whimsical story?

That story is the theatre you are about to see, a complex of music and myth. Although it may be ridiculous to translate architecture from music, Debussy's score did help me to better understand the space and the fragmented atmosphere during the design process. Although my buildings utilise many paradigms learned from modernism and postmodernism, they ultimately tell a fragmented story.

So feel free to laugh at my juvenile tricks, and if you find the whole thing particularly humorous and ironic, then I can sleep easy now.

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"Contents"

The Book of Sand I wanted this book to have the look of a book.

So I wrote down the "contents" here.

But I hesitated to write it.

Why does everything have a table of contents?

Why is life not The Book of Sand?

Borges is gone, But who has understood him?

I don't understand him, I haven't even turned a page of his book.

But he seems to have told us the truth: We live in a melting pot, And it is called the Library of Babel.

This library is not only an infinite loop in space, But where even time is torn into the shape of a silver thread.

There are many, many friends, They are lost here.

Among them were Hesse.

Kafka.

Camus and Sartre.

Marquez and Derrida.

And so many others.

I didn't remember their names for a while.

But in the darkness of the road before us, They put a starburst and lit it for us.

We are so small, And we are so arrogant.

Supreme Creator.

I don't care what your name is.

Or which myth you were born.

Please, bless this vast land, And the spirits that live on it.

Let the waters of Lake Walden pour down from the Tian Shan.

Let the rocks of Uluru become the ark of the Arctic Ocean.

Let you and I, under the same sky, No matter where we come from or where we return.

Together, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand.

Let's sail to the next hundred years.

Bevis, Winter Hangzhou, China

沙之书 我本来想让这本书有个书的样子， 所以我在这里写下了“目录”， 但我迟迟没有下笔。 为什么凡事都有目录？ 为什么生活不是一本沙之书？ 博尔赫斯已经离开了， 但是谁又看懂了他呢？ 我不懂他， 我甚至没有翻过一页他的书。 可是他好像告诉了我们一个真相： 我们生活在一个大熔炉里， 它叫做巴别图书馆。 这个图书馆不仅在空间上无限循环， 就连时间也被扯成了银丝的模样。 有好多好多的朋友， 他们在这里迷了路。 他们之中有黑塞， 有卡夫卡， 有加缪和萨特， 还有马尔克斯和德里达。 还有好多人， 我一时没有想起他们的名字。 但是在眼前黑黢黢的道路上， 他们把星火，为我们点亮。 我们是这样的渺小， 我们又是如此的自大。

至高无上的造物主， 我不管你叫什么名字。 也不管你来自哪个神话， 请你保佑这片广袤的土地， 还有土地之上生生不息的生灵。 请让瓦尔登湖的水从天山倾泻而下， 让乌鲁鲁的巨岩化身北冰洋的方舟。 让同一片天空下的你我， 不管来处与归途， 肩并着肩，手牵着手。 驶向下一个一百年吧。

冬日下午 中国杭州

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Archipelago Theatre

Before Archipelago The original concept for my theatre was a pontoon bridge, where I wanted the different theatre forms to be connected like barges by a temporary bridge. In each barge, I could explore the various possibilities of theatre.

But as the waters became larger in my design, these pontoons became somewhat redundant. Because I'd like to focus on the role of each barge, after all, it seemed irrelevant to have this long pontoon. So I took Sean's advice and made the theatre into an archipelago, with each barge becoming an island in the sea. Although there is no direct connection between the islands, some echoes of space or vision instead deepen the implicit connection between them, thus reinforcing the idea of an archipelago.

Sean kept pointing out that I should avoid making the islands feel like barges. And he said my choice of Site would be particularly obvious looking down from the Harbour Bridge, and that Blues Bay, being in such a busy shipping lane in Sydney Harbour, must be pretty noticeable.

I tried to add more and more things to weaken the feel of the barge, but every time I added more, I found the design became more and more cluttered. So in the last few weeks, and even during the final presentation, Sean reminded me that I should be doing a lot of subtracting rather than just adding to the design.

As I was about to write the Design Book, I realised that it was inevitable that my islands would look like barges because they were prototypes of barges from whence they were born. So then I stopped thinking about the insubstantial issue of artificial nature and made cuts. Of course, if I had more time, I think I would have cut out a lot of the design language, especially for Harp Island, which is still too complex. I'm not happy with the bridges and steps at the entrance, but I've done my best to cut as much as possible in the time available.

I will continue to refine this design, as I haven't even made a large scale model yet. I think it deserves an elaborate and spectacular model, which should appear at the offline grad show in January if I get the chance.

Still, I can only ship it to Australia as a piece of furniture. And where will it go afterwards? As a gift for Sean, of course, I think it's something we can all look forward to.

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Debussy and His Music La Mer (The Sea) movement is a symphonic score by Debussy, who was heavily influenced by Katsushika Hokusai's Kanagawa Surfari and was closely associated with Impressionism in his time.

As an innovative composer among Parisian musicians, Debussy incorporated the structure of painting into the score's design based on his interpretation of Japanese Ukiyo-e and Impressionist paintings.

Unlike the typical straightforward scoring of symphonies, Debussy worked more with fragmented and seemingly loose forms. This kind of design is why The Sea and his other movements, such as Pastoral Afternoon and Nocturne, are characterised by their unpredictability in parts and majestic length as a whole.

The reason for not choosing Debussy's most famous piece, The Sea, but the third in the Nocturne series, Sirènes, is that it deliberately avoids the majestic nature of the Sea series but instead has a strong resemblance to the ethereal nature of Eastern culture, and similar images of mermaids and sea monsters are found in both Chinese and Japanese cultures. In addition, the spatial and scriptural translation of The Sea would have faced the dilemma of a lack of literary references. Unlike The Sirens, the myth of the Sirens is an integral part of Western literature, and the story of the Sirens is an essential part of the Greek mythological system.

The Sirens of the Odyssey from Homer's epic poem will be the primary script reference for this experiment, and the number and names of the Sirens vary from version to version of the myth. But the sirens of this space experiment (mermaids, sirens) have no specific names, and there would be a massive statue of a siren, a living sculpture, in the centre (Replaced by a picnic space at last). A veil of debris in space hides her, one cannot see her, but one knows she exists in the shadow of the sun, exists in the illusion of the fire, and exists in the song of the sirens around her. The sirens danced, the sailors marched mechanically, and only little Odysseus (The Visitors), with a deep curiosity about this illusion.

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Archipelago Theatre

La Mer. Trois esquisses symphoniques de Debussy. Paris, Durand, 1905. BNF, Musique, Rés. Vma 486 (couverture illustrée) Link: http://expositions.bnf.fr/lamer/grand/121.htm

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The Sirens imploring Ulysses to stay (1886) | Unknown artist | Medium: woodcut print on block Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sirens_imploring_Ulysses_to_stay_(1886).jpg

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Kingdom of the Clouds

云之王国

The confused Jehovah spills a jar of coral-orange powder The Great Barrier Reef rises to the Kingdom of Clouds

糊涂的耶和华打翻了一罐珊瑚橘粉末 大堡礁升腾而起云之王国

Once upon a time Clouds grew at the bottom of the sea Bubbles hung in the night sky The day was a colourful play The deep-sea was a playground of stars Pop, modernity and round dance The earth listens quietly to the sounds of the sea She is the daughter of the ocean The sea is the mother of myths

在很久以前 云长在海底 泡泡挂满夜空 白昼是彩色的舞台剧 深海是星星的游乐场 波普、现代性还有圆舞曲 大地静静聆听来自海洋的声音 她是海的女儿 海作了神话的母亲

The Tower of Babel, called the Purgatorio, is hidden in the Kingdom of Clouds.

The people on the mountain are waiting to see the gates of heaven.

名曰净界的巴别塔藏在云之王国里 山上的人们争先恐后瞻仰天国之门

The gates are open Noah will not build an Ark anymore The floods swallowed up the human world Bevis, Summer White Cloud Village, China

门开了 诺亚不再造舟 洪水吞没了人世

过去的夏天 白云村，中国桐庐

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Overture How did Debussy begin his piece? If you listen carefully, you will see that the Siren's song comes in bits and pieces after a long buildup. The soft and mellow call of the horn is as if the ship Odysseus is on has sailed into murky waters, with different instruments whispering during the voyage. During this time, a small group of sirens join in this conversation, lying softly in your ear and trying to make you dare to look at them.

So I deliberately kept the Gate of Dream away from the Blues Bay; I wanted the long waterways and small boats to create such a disorienting effect. It was as if one could see the distant Archipelago Theatre, but everything was still blurred. As the boat gets closer and closer to the Gate of Dream, the sights and sounds become more apparent. The movement of the overture thus enters the opening of the piece.

Entrance Plan

Scale: 1:500

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1 Gate of Dream 2 Harp Island 3 The Village 4 Rare Window 5 La Grande Jatte 6 Three Realms Scale: 1:500

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Her Story

她的故事

On the eastern side of the Bridge, There is an opera house of dreams.

I've seen her eyes, And have heard her tears.

String after string of teardrops, People are set at different times.

But on this necklace of teardrops, There is no one I miss.

Only the person I am now, And the person I used to be.

在海港大桥的东边， 有一座梦里的歌剧院。 我看过她的眼眸， 也听过她的泪滴。 一串一串的泪珠， 镶嵌着不同时间里的人。 可是这串泪珠的项链上， 没有我的所思所念。 只有现在的我， 和曾经的我。

I have no shells, And no Viking myths.

I have only tales from the East, And a few echoes of the Aegean.

Sydney did not sing for me, But I hear the Sirens' song.

Their beautiful voices, Through the barriers of time and space.

Once again, they have come to This land of the gods.

我没有贝壳， 也没有维京人的神话。 我只有来自东方的故事， 和些许爱琴海的回声。 悉尼不曾为我歌唱， 但是我听见了海妖的歌声。 她们优美的声音， 穿越了时空的藩篱， 再一次降临， 这片被神眷顾的土地。

I am convinced that There is more than one god here.

In the name of the gods, I call it the Spirit of the Earth.

我坚信， 这里不只有一位神明， 恕我以神之名， 唤作大地之灵。

Bevis, Winter Hangzhou, China

冬 中国杭州

Ra in W ate r

ter Wa ain r R ate in W Ra

Ra in W ate r

Archipelago Theatre

Rain Water Rain Water Rain Water

Rain Water

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Harp Island

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A Joke

一个笑话

I showed a couple of close friends this Harp Island.

One of them asked me where I would let him stay.

我给几个好友看了我的琴之岛， 他们其中一个问我让他住哪里。

I said that the toilets here are spotless, And the auntie who cleaned them was always very friendly.

He said he would like to have a block of toilets, Spacious and bright.

I said I'd rather have the top and bottom toilets together and give him a furnished flat.

我说这里的厕所很干净， 打扫卫生的阿姨总是很讲究。 他说那他要连成片的厕所， 宽敞又明亮。 我说倒不如我把上下的厕所连在一起， 给他弄一个精装修公寓。

The other one said that he wanted to be the auntie.

I complimented him on being a decent person.

另外一个于是说，他要当扫地阿姨。 我夸他一看就是体面人。

Another one said he wanted to be a janitor for me.

I laughed heartily and reminded him that The door here doesn't close at all.

It's like a row of teeth without the middle incisor.

The sea wind would break his back.

But the gates to hell on the sea are pretty straightforward; For people are waiting in line to go to heaven.

还有一个说是要给我做看门大爷， 我开怀大笑，提醒他： 这里的门根本就关不上， 就好像一排牙齿少了中间的门牙， 海风准能吹折他的腰。 不过海面上通往地狱的门倒是很清闲， 因为人们都等着排队上天堂呢。

And he said it would be good to be a watchman on the sea.

So I told him to watch over The Little Mermaid and not to make her sad again.

他又说，做个海面上的守望者也很好呀。 所以我就叮嘱他，一定要看好海的女儿， 不要再让她难过了。

And he said. The Little Mermaid is HIS daughter.

他说，海的女儿就是我的女儿。

Alas, see your majesty.

哎呀，参见陛下。 Bevis, Autumn Hangzhou, China

秋 中国杭州

Archipelago Theatre

The Harp Island is the initial stop for all journeys in Archipelago Theatre, but at the same time, it is the largest theatre complex. The ground floor is a lobby serving all the routes, including ticketing and waiting spaces, similar to a shipping building. Visitors enter through a large circular hole and pass through this large sliding door, the Sun Gate. They then walk down a large flight of steps, flanked by a waiting hall for boats, with the ticket office and information desk in the middle. A circular staircase surrounds this ticket office. And the stairs wrap around and up, through which visitors can walk up to the first floor.

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Archipelago Theatre

The first floor is where the actors and the audience meet for the first time. The audience walks up the stairs to a glass window, which cuts across the building as a teaser stage. The dressing and make-up space for the actors is hidden behind this window stage, where the cast and crew prepare for the big show. As well as watching the performance on the teaser stage, the audience can also look east across the sea through the upper part of the Sun Gate, which offers a full view of the entire Archipelago Theatre and a distant view of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

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Archipelago Theatre

The second floor is set up in a rather unconventional way as typical opera houses usually have the backstage behind the main stage. Still, I wanted the main stage on the second floor to blend in with Sydney Harbour's view and the moon stage on the wall. So I did a bold manoeuvre where the audience entered the second floor from underneath the main stage while the actors ran underneath the auditorium. In addition, I also set up backstage at the back of the hall, and I wanted the stage always to be actively going to wrap around the audience.

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Section AA' 1:100

1 Office 2 Ticket office

Ground Floor 1:100

Section BB' 1:100

3 Dressing Room 4 Gathering

First Floor 1:100

5 Back Stage 6 Main Stage 7 Moon Stage

Second Floor 1:100

A Tour

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r ate in W Ra ter Wa

Ra in W ate r

in Ra

Ra in W ate r

Archipelago Theatre

Rain Water Rain Water Rain Water Rain Water

The Harp Island gets its name because the circulation becomes like the strings of a harp. Both the audience and the actors are bound to experience a unique space. These flowing strings are like the rainwater collected by the Harp Island, always recording the time of change.

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Rear Window

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Winners

赢家

The other night, I was playing cards with three guys.

One of them was a film director, Two were architects.

I heard they were all very famous.

有天晚上 我和三个人在打牌 他们里面一个是电影导演 两个是建筑师 听说都很有名

I knew both architects.

One is an American, The other was English.

The American is obsessed with putting things in a grid; The British have a preference for irregular forms.

这两个建筑师我都认识 一个是美国人 一个是英国人 美国人沉迷于在格子里面放东西 英国人偏爱弄些稀奇古怪的造型

The director of the film is strange, He's an old-fashioned guy.

Although he doesn't play with architecture, But he's the real expert.

电影导演比较奇怪 他是个老古董 虽然他不玩建筑 但是他才是真正的大专家

Ouch!

At this point of talking to you, I've accidentally lost all my money.

But it's okay, I'll sneak a few out of their pockets.

Shh! Don't say anything if you see it.

哎哟 跟你说话的这个时候 我一不小心输光光了 不过没关系 我悄悄从他们口袋里偷几张就好 嘘！ 你看到了也别说出来

Chinese from the Warring States said "War is always a tricky business.

战国人说过 兵不厌诈嘛 Bevis, Winter Hangzhou, China

冬 中国杭州

Section AA' 1:150

1 Room Stage 2 Upper Stage 3 Viewing Aisle 4 Viewing Deck

First Floor 1:150

The Village

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A Story from 1993

九三年的故事

Magnet Magnet What a big Magnet

吸铁石 吸铁石 好大一个吸铁石

Robbing of the wealth Taking in the Soul Forgiving people's virtues Covering up their sorrow

摄人之魂 劫人之财 宽人之德 掩人之哀

Clink, clink, clink Ants walk on walls A fool trapped in a bore Adulterer and adulteress Widows all alone

叮叮咚 叮叮咚 蚂蚁墙上走 人儿牢里栽 鳏寡孤独 奸夫淫妇

Boom, boom, boom Neighbours hear ravings The devil hears the applause The chickens and dogs hear each other The morning ring and the evening doom Hidden string after the piece All the left are only bones Red, red, merlot Red, red, merlot

轰隆隆 轰隆隆 邻人闻呓语 恶魔听掌声 鸡犬相闻 晨钟暮鼓 曲罢各纳弦 空留白骨冢 红彤彤 红彤彤

Bevis, Winter Hangzhou, China

冬 中国杭州

Section AA' 1:150

1 Central Stage 2 Backstage 3 External Stage

Ground Floor 1:150

Three Realms

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Four Friends

四位小朋友

In a cradle on the sea Four little children sleep

海上的摇篮里 躺着四个小朋友

Suddenly one cry is missing They searched and searched

忽然少了一个哭声 大家找呀找

They couldn't find him But I know

他们找不到 可是我知道

Hiding high above the seabed Lying in the water shallow

藏在高高的海底 趴在浅浅的水中

Bevis, Winter Hangzhou, China

冬 中国杭州

Section AA' 1:150

1 Neighbours 2 Viewing Deck 3 Audience 4 Arrival 5 Gate of Hell

Ground Floor 1:150

La Grande Jatte

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Monologue

独白

It's like I'm throwing a stone in a cavernous pool, A long, clear echo accompanies the splash.

That echoes through the valley, To my ears.

It flows around my body, I shuddered in the cold.

The birds of prey flee in a panic, Leaving the extensive woodland, The empty pool,

我像是在幽闭的洞穴水潭丢石子 水花伴着清冽绵长的回音 那回音传遍了溪谷 传到我的耳朵 流过我的身体 我冷不丁地颤抖 惊觉间仓皇逃离的飞鸟 留下偌大的林地 空荡的潭水

And me alone.

还有我一个 Bevis, Summer Hangzhou, China

给夏天 中国杭州

1 Lawn 2 Pond 3 Arrival

Ground Floor 1:100

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The End,

Archipelago Theatre

A prose poem by a lunatic The long hiatus loomed over me like a giant blackbird, a breathless struggle that seemed futile, a fog, a rain, a rout everywhere. The fear of death that grows in the face of new life breaks down into a million tiny pieces that seep through the sweat pores into the blood. In the centre of the room is a figure with its head hanging down, pierced through the back by a rusty steel ring, the twine hanging out of place from the ceiling, the room suddenly transformed into a corner of a sinking ship, the backed-up seawater lapping at the tin walls, the rumbling fading into the muffled whimper of a dying man. Time and space were distorted by a shipwreck decades ago, and the generous cabin holds the man's last cries of woe. A so-called haunted house is merely a place where distant spirits store their memories. People are used to glorifying the fear of death while falsely accusing the dead. And the souls only ask for even one cubic metre of air to reconcile with their troubled past.

Bevis, Summer Ningbo, China

疯子的散文诗 漫长的空档期像只巨大黑鸟笼罩着我，透不过气地挣扎显得徒劳，到处是雾气、 阴雨、溃败。面对新生滋长的死亡恐惧拆分成无数细小的碎片，透过汗毛孔渗 入血液。房间中央有一只垂下脑袋的人偶，被锈迹斑斑的钢圈刺穿背脊，麻绳 格格不入地悬在天花板上，房间霎时化为沉船一隅，倒灌的海水拍打铁皮墙壁， 隆隆声消匿成将死之人低沉的呜咽。时空在几十年前的一次海难里扭曲，慷慨 的隔间保留那个男人最后的悲鸣。所谓鬼屋不过是遥远的魂灵存储记忆的地方， 人们习惯于美化对死的畏惧而诬陷逝去的肉体，亡魂的诉求只是用哪怕 1 立方 米的空气去和纷扰的过往和解。 夏末 中国宁波

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Precedents 1. Archipelago Cinema, Thailand. Architects: Buro Ole Scheeren + Film on the​Rocks Yao Noi Foundation, 2012.

2. Floating University Berlin, Berlin. Architects: Raumlabor Berlin, 2018.

3. Inflatable Antepavilion Theater, London. Architects:Thomas Randall-Page and Benedetta Rogers, 2018.

4. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York. Architects: Wallace K. Harrison, 1969.

5. Lithuanian Pavilion, Venice. Architects: Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė, 2019 6. National Park Centre, Switzerland. Architects: Valerio Olgiati, 2008 7.Pavilion of Reflections, Zurich. Architects: Studio Tom Emerson, 2016.

8. Teatro Oficina, São Paulo. Architects: Lina Bo Bardi, 1958 9. Vieux Port Pavilion, Marseille. Architects: Foster + Partners, 2013. etc.

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Architects Reference Carlo Scarpa | Aldo Rossi | Steven Holl | John Hejduk

Literature Reference Odyssey | Divine Comedy | Classic of Mountains and Seas | Chu Ci

Philosophy Reference Gilles Deleuze | Zhuang Zhou | Gautama Buddha

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