Merging Landscapes

Academy of Architecture, Rachana Sansad, Mumbai

Project idea

‘Merging landscapes’ envisions a sustainable rehabilitation of Theatre Populaire Idea(l) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The development of the amphitheater acts as an urban catalyst which provides spaces to facilitate art forms of the region, a common place for community gatherings, for women to share their everyday life and to organize festivals. Centrally designed around the idea of ‘courts within courts’, which reinterprets the vernacular of Africa and the blocks are planned around the existing trees on site.

The site acts as backdrop for the amphitheater where you gradually choreograph towards the amphitheater, which merges with the landscape blurring the boundaries of a rigid space. The organisation of spaces shades the various blocks through roof overhangs and positioning of the blocks provides mutual shading. It balances the traditional approaches mimicking the vernacular African village settlement patterns with global methodologies pushing the extents of local construction and community participation as a part of the entire process.

Project description

The three journeys narrate the experience of ‘work’, ‘show’ and ‘labo’ which is connected with plazas and courtyards as a bio-climatic and organisational strategy. The rehabilitation is phased with sinking the amphitheater partially below ground with the demolition of the existing site structures reused for filling the ground. It creates a seamless journey to the amphitheater with various pause points utilizing the true potential of the site as a homogeneous response.

The ‘work’ area is earth-bermed, thermally comforting the functions of the backstage, while the roof acts as an extension to the landscape. The amphitheater signifies the inclination of masses in the ‘labo’ area which has its privacy while opening up to the larger conviviality spaces. The ‘show’ area doubles up to larger plazas as gathering spaces and also a place to house the festive celebrations of this culturally rich place.
The idea of redesigning the functions of "Choreographic Development Center La Termitière" to engage with the site as a single entity by reusing the materials on the existing site.

The evolution of the amphitheater as a ‘theater for tomorrow’ breaks away from the existing rigid form, creating a more seamless space merging with the surrounding landscape. Dividing the performance space into smaller sections breaking the acts of play during smaller occasions. Local crafts are used as a part of signage as way-finding devices and promotes local culture. During festivals, the convivial spaces acts as spaces to promote local arts and crafts, providing an entrepreneurship platform.

Technical information

The use of traditional construction materials such as mud, cement, gravel, local stone and eucalyptus wood are used in combinations to create innovate methods which diversifies the arena of using local materials in an efficient way to match the global standards. The construction techniques and joineries are experimental yet it would engage the community in its building.

The walls are made of blended mud, gravel, cement and sand which are cast in place as they are thermally efficient and has evolved as a technique over time. The beams are concrete cast in-situ to tie the walls together. The roof is supported via timber posts interlocked with timber trusses and purlins, with tin corrugated sheets as the topmost layer of the double roofing system. The inner roof has vaults with ventilation slit for the hot air to rise up creating cooler interiors. The door and window louvers and frames are made from local eucalyptus wood while the retaining walls are plastered with mud. The façade louvers facilitate the flow of air within the structures.

The furniture is made by the community using local wood and the site acts a platform for the local crafts to develop on a global scale with exchange of information. The local signages are used as way-finding devices are used on walls of the blocks. For maintaining such landscapes, the rainwater collected on the roofs is channelized to a water storage tank. The idea of reusing resources is the central device of the proposal.

Co-authors

You tube link:
https://youtu.be/hY9SiYLOtw0

Documentation

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