Amphitheater in Burkina Faso

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

Project idea

There was an effort to orientate as much as possible to the south and east due to the year-round high temperatures and large amouth of sunlight and the intention to create a large enough open space for free movement and people meeting, but also for holding performances and exhibitions in the open air. At the same time, I wanted to achieve airy and pleasant spaces that would correspond to the free and artistic mindset of the locals. The proposal also envisages a problematic connection to the city´s insufficient sewerage system, so there are also a two root zone wastewater treatments, to which gray and black water could be at least partially drained and then cleaned (capacity is about 100 users, considering 1 user = 5m2). There are also systems of walkable green roofs used mainly for cooling buildings and as retention of rainwater. For these purposes, there are also two retention basins located in the western part of the area. Temporary stalls selling festival merchandise, crafts and artwork or art installiations (meant as outdoor gallery) are also considered here. Space expacted to accomadated this purpose is along paved areas.

Project description

The complex consists of three buildings: The WORK zone building, the building of the Snack bar and Information center, and the LABO zone group of buildings. The WORK zone building has three above-ground floors. The façade is made of verticla wooden paneling, the walls forming the stage/Scenic box are without any surface treatments (raw concrete structure). The shading of the terrace and adjoining rooms is made up of steel brackets and a flexible shading tencill fabric stretched between them. The roofing of the 1st floor is formed with walkable vegetation roofs. The whole building is covered with a “shell” of sheet metal roofing on a steel trusses. Adject to the WORK zone building is a reconstructed auditorium with and original technical cabin. In addition to the access stairs, it is also possible to access via a ramp to a platform primarily intended for disabled visitors. At the same time, a second ramp leads from this platform, which can be used to get to the 2nd floor of the adjacent building.
A small bulding set in the southwest slope of the amphitheater serves as a facility for the snack bar and the information center, but there are also public toilets for visitors and customers. The space in front of the building consists of a roofed seating area made of reinforced concrete slab with circural openings and supporting steel columns of round profiles.
The largest building (the LABO zone) consists of four segments separated by passages. The building is connected by a vegetation roof and shading of the same type as in the WORK zone building. At the same time, the roof rises towards the amphitheater to the highest level of the auditorium and connects to it there. This connection creates the spaces of the 2nd floor and a platform above suitable for gathering spectators, for example, during a theater break or before an theater performance. The first segment uses the perimeter brick walls of the original building. For additional light from the south there are two skylights, so that they illuminate at the front walls of the classrooms as much as possible, and also the blackboards placed on that walls. Another part of the building contains a café and its facilities, a recording studio and a photo studio and public toilets. In the two remaining segments, there are always two dance halls (classrooms intended for learning/training dance, music, puppetry, ...). Each dance hall has a separate dressing room for men and women with sanitary facilities and storage space for dance hall equipment. In the segment that is closer to the brick building, there is also a gallery space. In the segment sunk into the slope, on the 2nd floor, there is another teaching space with facilities and offices. There is access to this classroom from the platform above and from the 1st floor by an outdoor staircases. Also, there is a ramp for immobile visitors from the platform located in the auditorium.

In the exterior, there is a new staircase intended as stair seating, which is designed for visitors to relax and at the same time as an auditorium for new “open air scene”. It is complemented by two staircases on the sides and two recessed staircases in the "second auditorium". This "second auditorium" is connected to the auditorium of the amphitheater by a platform that is used for easier orientation in both auditoriums and meeting of visitors before, during or after the performances.

Technical information

The WORK Zone building is designed as a three-storey building, the building with an information center as a single-storey building. The load-bearing walls of the "scenic box" are intended from concrete shell blocks, the remaining walls of both buildings are made of large-format bricks. All glazed surfaces leading to the terraces are passable with sliding sash, thus allowing not only comfortable movement, but also ventilation of the interior and at the same time the movements of the window sash do not take up space in the rooms. The ceilings are beam with inserts and overlay concrete. The 1st floor is covered with a walkable vegetation roof, which serves as a terrace for the 2nd floor. Which is covered only by the light structure of the walkable flat roof, as above the whole building there is a roof with a sheet metal roofing ("shell") supported by steel trusses made of I-profiles. It therefore protects against the weather both the stage itself and the footbridges and spaces for stage technology above it.
The single-storey brick building set on a slope is complemented by shading from a reinforced concrete slab perforated with numerous empty openings formed by bottomless ceramic veses. The plate is supported by steel columns of circular cross-section. The interior of the building is illuminated by round skylights and ventilated by ventilation vents. A wall support system is used here.
The remaining building of the LABO Zone is mostly designed as a single-storey building with a walkable vegetation roof, but at the point of setting it on the slope it turns into a two-storey building. The construction system was chosen as a wall system supplemented by load-bearing beams, in the halls the walls are replaced by concrete columns. All glazing of the walls (except for the facilities) connected to the exterior is designed as a passage with sliding wings. Sliding walls are installed in the halls and classrooms to increase the space or vice versa so the rooms can be adapted to the current number of users. Due to the material and structural demands of the building and all paved areas are designed from brick fragments and fractures, aggregates and ceramic shards created during the demolition of the original buildings and the construction of new ones.

Documentation

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