Theatre Populaire

Project idea

In the heart of Ouagadougou, was created a project inspired by the people of Burkina Faso, their problems, their needs, their traditions and specialties. The project is made to encourage their traditional practices and solve major local problems like heavy winter rain/ dry summer days and lack in public spaces.

Project description

The project was born following the surroundings of its site. From the north, the site faces a bus station inside the urban zone and from the south it faces an informal gardening area, for that reason a decision of a sloped roof took place with its highest point facing the urban zone and the bus station, inviting the inhabitants and the tourists to access the project. The roof continues by bending its height marking a humble aspect facing the informal gardening present next to the site, as a sign of respect and integration in nature, at the same time the roof covers the existing theater that is the main part of the project. Therefore, the created cover will provide the needed functions beneath it and the accessible roof becomes a public space and an amphitheater for the CDC that will enhance the social interaction following the lack of public spaces in Ouagadougou.
The functions inside are disposed in an open space plan translating the free spirit of art. An implantation of patios that merge nature and provide natural daylights took place between spaces.
The open space plan could be separated when needed with the presence of sliding wood walls fixed on rails. when these walls are not used for separation they could be dragged to the outside and used for outside shops, as African people practice a lot of outdoor selling. “we sell where we walk”.
In order to boost the sense of discovery and inspiration, a visual connection inhabits the project with floating floors holding the functions. The free spirit of the project is also seen in its facade that can be opened because of the flexible poly-carbonate sheets.

Technical information

The materials used in the project were a mixture between local materials used traditionally by people in Burkina Faso like mud earth used for the roof and floors of the project and low cost recyclable material like poly carbonate used on the facade and that is considered a strong and flexible material, provides natural daylight, good isolation and gives a poetic effect at night by showing shades behind its translucent texture and its colorful sheets during the day. In addition to that, due to the sloped roof of the project , the rain water will be collected by natural gravity and preserved in an underground tank. The tank will be filled in winter because of the high level of precipitation and the collected water will be used for gardening and sanitary use. Therefore, heavy rain in Burkina Faso will be transformed from a problem to a solution and the dried weather during summer days will be saved.

Documentation

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