dance_space

The Graduate Dance Laboratory Rehearsal Space is a scenario for sustainable rehabilitation of underutilized space on the University of Illinois (UIUC) campus with the use of reclaimed materials applied with contemporary design solutions to an existing building – the East Art Annex 2. This project was a part of an optional design seminar with professors Roger Hubeli and Julie Larsen. This semester long class had both architecture and dance students enrolled as a collaborative approach to complete the space. The goal for the project was to achieve a sense of cohesiveness with the existing space that also maintained the integrity of sustainable qualities. The foundation material of the dance space is the remains of an old basketball court reclaimed from a recreational building at UIUC. Most of the original flooring was utilized for the sprung floor necessary for the dancers but to maximize the efficiency of the material, the sustainable approach was to reuse all broken pieces of wood as well as byproduct from construction for multiple uses beyond the dance floor.  The space was further developed through reusing as much of the basketball floor as possible; foregoing the use of other materials. Based on the process of production, leftover material was used by cutting the wood floor planks in ½” cross-sections to create a curtain system. 3’ wide x12’ long panels were woven together by drilling holes in the cross sections and stringing the pieces through holes with music wire. The end result is a flexible surface that can be hung to create multiple programmatic necessities within the space such as performance, backstage space, object storage, and space for music equipment.  I worked as a collaborating student with the rest of the seminar who include: Virginie Bonnett, Kyle Callaghan, Vatsal Desai, Dan Dickson, Sarah Haas, Heidi Hagen, Diego Morell-Perea, Chenxi Hu, Audrey Johnson, Jee An Kim, Emmanuel Leroy, Limeng Lu, Xunan Li, Cyril Marsollier, Clement Mathieu, Merkam Mohammad, Lucie Reau

(photographs courtesy of Aptum Architecture)

 

For more information, please visit:  Aptum Architecture

http://news.illinois.edu/news/09/0511dance.html   and   http://www.aptumarchitecture.com/Dance.html

 

 

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