Location: Soyo - Rockingham street, Sheffield

Brief: Cultural Exchange

Proposal:  Inspired by performance spaces at music festivals I maximised flexibility by using the volume of the building. The spiral  staircase winds around an open void to surround the suspended glass performance platforms. In contrast to typical audience/performer zones, the audience will travel along the staircase creating spontaneous encounters with performers from previously unimagined angles.  

 

The glass platforms sit within a steel framework and are set into a hidden chain link system inside the eight steel columns, they can be moved vertically to increase the performance capacity within the space. Daytimes might see quieter workshops such as yoga, poetry and storytelling using the platforms. During the evenings, the platforms may be lifted out of the way, and the triple height void allows a large capacity audience to view performers on the ground floor from the staircase.

The Cultural exchange aspect of my proposal is inspired by our family holidays to the world music festival ‘WOMAD’  Happy memories of singing and dancing as a child are intertwined with the cultural exchange of learning about music from every corner of the world.

Grade: 2.1