architect: Acconci Studio
location: Graz, Austria
year: 2003
A twist in the river, a node in the river, a circulation-route in the river. The node is an island; it’s a dome that twists into a bowl that twists into a dome. The bowl functions as a theater. Bleachers wave in and out; when the bowl isn’t used as a theater, it’s a plaza -- you sit face-to-face, in everyday conversation. The dome functions as a café/restaurant. The entrance canopy twists down to make lounge seating around the dome. Curved triangular tables and stools are movable; they’re joined together, for different-sized groups of people. The rubber edge of the terrace above twists down to make multiple bar counters, at different heights. Water pours down the shell of the dome; up on the terrace, you sit under a waterfall. The warping of dome into bowl, and vice versa, forms a playground, a space frame that functions as monkey bars, a tubular slide cuts through the grid. Functions are mixed on this island: the playground doubles as the backdrop of the stage and as a wall and ceiling for the cafe. Light streams up from beneath the bleachers, in the bowl, and down from the roof structure, in the dome.
architect: Acconci Studio (Vito Acconci, Dario Nunez, Stephen Roe, Peter Dorsey, Thomas Siegl, Gia Wolff)
location: Mur Island, Graz, Austria
date: 2003
materials: acciaio, vetro, gomma, asfalto, acqua, luce
surface: 10,310 sq. ft.
engineers: Zenckner & Handl; Kurt Kratzer
contractors: SFL
