Revealing expressive spaces : transformation of a former quarry to a dancers' retreat center

Abstract

Dance and architecture are two disciplines of creativity that share a special relationship. Movement and space are the common grounds for the two disciplines. Movement defines space in dance, while at the same time; movement manifests the experience of spatial qualities in architecture. It is through our movement that we read the expressive and dynamic quality of spaces in architecture and in nature. It is also through movement that we orient ourselves within and identify ourselves with an environment. To think about space created for and by the body as the common linkage among dance, architecture and landscape, a dancers' retreat center is used as the program for design investigation. Spatial concepts as perceived in dance are employed to inform the design of architecture and landscape. The goal of this thesis is to find an architectural solution for the dancers' retreat center that informs the users of dance and allows dance to inform the definition of the spaces in architecture and landscape. Mutual influence and exchange of ideas between the two disciplines occur in this reciprocal dialogue. The project is aspired to accommodate different performance scenarios and to create permeable volumes of spaces that allow fluid movements between architecture and landscape.