Project Anneaux: Theatre populaire

FAST VUT - Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Department of Architecture

Project idea

The idea of this project was to make a place where will be enough shade for everyone. Place where you can hide from the merciless shining sun. Place as calm as a shadow under the treetop. Also, the main effort was not to lose any of the trees which are already in there. The buildings of Labo+Show are organically floating through the blank spaces connecting by one common roof. Work part – renovated amphitheater – is like an actor who welcomes the audience in the greatest show. In both buildings are used bamboo stanchions which make the illusion of a small forest. On top of that was helping local economic so materials used in the design are available in the nearest location.

Project description

The theme of the study is the revitalization of an unused amphitheater in Ouagadougou – the capital of Burkina Faso. La Termitiere complex now consists of some buildings which are not suitable for all the activities they want to follow. The complex has 2 main buildings. The first is building is Labo+Show. This building is passing all trees and makes its forest of bamboo stanchions. In fact, this building is made of 4 other buildings. These four buildings had one common roof which makes the spaces between them shaded and pleasing. Through one of these spaces leads the main entrance for visitors. The entrance is a little bit more on the north than before so on the south where the entrance used to be, is now more space for visitors to park. Pavilion of Labo+Show consists of 8 classrooms – 4 main classrooms have 150 m2 and are meant for teaching theatre, music, dance, and circus. The other 4 smaller rooms are photographic studio, recording studio, editing video, and media classroom. There are sanitary facilities part belonging to this instructional pavilion. Then is here a building with accommodation for actors and building with coffeehouse and information. These buildings have various heights based on their importance. Pavilion of Show – the amphitheater – proceed from natural look local area. The building takes place where was the original amphitheater. The building hugs the audience by its two wings. The west wing is technical. The east wing is a background for actors. In the middle is a stage and below the stage are sanitary facilities for performers. The entrance into this pavilion is through open terraces with bamboo stanchions.

Technical information

Both buildings are from unfired bricks. Small windows are made just by a special way of assembling the bricks on each other. But the construction system is different. Pavilion of Labo+Show has bamboo construction and amphitheater has steel construction because of its height. The roof structure is based on traditional rooftops in Burkina Faso. The supporting frame is from bamboo, then is used hydro isolation and the last layer is soil.

Co-authors

Project created under the leadership of Ing. arch. Viktor Svojanovský