SOMOS.arquitectos proposal for the new "Parque San Francisco" Theater and MACEW Museum.
The project provides a structured spatial framework able to solve two key issues: on one hand, connectivity, dialogue and versatility of the new theatre in relation to the adjoining streets and the MACEW museum. Furthermore, the insertion of the volume within the urban built surroundings at a close and a distant scale.
A - . THEATRE
The Theatre renews the cultural offer within the city center, becoming a confluence point for people and activities. The Multipurpose Room is flush with the ground floor. The stage opens onto the Street San Juan and Plaza del Doctor Victor Perez both serving as a relief to the main access. The ticket booths are in the opposite façade, which can be also be opened onto the street. The lobby-access has been designed as a pedestrian extension directly linking the streets of San Juan and Agustin de Betancourt: a covered and protected passage but flooded with light, leaving the wall of the adjoining Church almost untouched.
B - . MACEW
The tour around the different exhibition spaces is designed as a descending trip. The restaurant has been placed on the sixth floor with a terrace that fully exploits the complete urban skyline. Visitors to the museum take the elevator on the ground floor, ascending to level +13.30m and then descending on foot through the different rooms using the open stairs until they arrive to the street level. To ensure VIEWS and LIGHT within the showrooms, a SYSTEM OF DOUBLE HEIGHT SPACES ENCHAINED IN TWO DIRECTIONS allows people to grasp the complexity of MACEW museum looking through several levels from a single vantage point.
01. FLEXIBILITY
The Multipurpose Room is placed on the ground floor level, directly in contact with the street, its programmatic possibilities adhering to the adjoining urban routes. You can access it from the lobby of the theater or from the lobby MACEW, multiplying thus its versatility. It has natural light and can be divided as needed. It features a retracting seating system which can be stored in the basement space, leaving a completely horizontal surface.
02. FRAGMENTATION
Given the volumetric conditions of the urban study and the required gradual reduction of levels, we establish a modular system to control the "stacking" of programs wrapping up the Multipurpose Room. This modular system also allows increasing or decreasing the amount of space dedicated to exhibitions, while it also allows the rationalization and control of the building components, subsequently the budget.
03. LIGHT + VISUAL LINKS
The site has two opposite sides: a clear "back" that attaches to the party walls of the existing urban fabric, in contrast with a “front” visually linked to the urban skyline and open to passers-by. Through the system of concatenated double heights and voids, the Exhibition Areas open and swell to the South–East orientation, admitting light and views that allow visitors not to lose the reference with the city at any time.
The project provides a structured spatial framework able to solve two key issues: on one hand, connectivity, dialogue and versatility of the new theatre in relation to the adjoining streets and the MACEW museum. Furthermore, the insertion of the volume within the urban built surroundings at a close and a distant scale.
A - . THEATRE
The Theatre renews the cultural offer within the city center, becoming a confluence point for people and activities. The Multipurpose Room is flush with the ground floor. The stage opens onto the Street San Juan and Plaza del Doctor Victor Perez both serving as a relief to the main access. The ticket booths are in the opposite façade, which can be also be opened onto the street. The lobby-access has been designed as a pedestrian extension directly linking the streets of San Juan and Agustin de Betancourt: a covered and protected passage but flooded with light, leaving the wall of the adjoining Church almost untouched.
B - . MACEW
The tour around the different exhibition spaces is designed as a descending trip. The restaurant has been placed on the sixth floor with a terrace that fully exploits the complete urban skyline. Visitors to the museum take the elevator on the ground floor, ascending to level +13.30m and then descending on foot through the different rooms using the open stairs until they arrive to the street level. To ensure VIEWS and LIGHT within the showrooms, a SYSTEM OF DOUBLE HEIGHT SPACES ENCHAINED IN TWO DIRECTIONS allows people to grasp the complexity of MACEW museum looking through several levels from a single vantage point.
01. FLEXIBILITY
The Multipurpose Room is placed on the ground floor level, directly in contact with the street, its programmatic possibilities adhering to the adjoining urban routes. You can access it from the lobby of the theater or from the lobby MACEW, multiplying thus its versatility. It has natural light and can be divided as needed. It features a retracting seating system which can be stored in the basement space, leaving a completely horizontal surface.
02. FRAGMENTATION
Given the volumetric conditions of the urban study and the required gradual reduction of levels, we establish a modular system to control the "stacking" of programs wrapping up the Multipurpose Room. This modular system also allows increasing or decreasing the amount of space dedicated to exhibitions, while it also allows the rationalization and control of the building components, subsequently the budget.
03. LIGHT + VISUAL LINKS
The site has two opposite sides: a clear "back" that attaches to the party walls of the existing urban fabric, in contrast with a “front” visually linked to the urban skyline and open to passers-by. Through the system of concatenated double heights and voids, the Exhibition Areas open and swell to the South–East orientation, admitting light and views that allow visitors not to lose the reference with the city at any time.
