{"id":22641,"date":"2014-09-08T21:31:22","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T19:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.area-arch.it\/theatre-square-2\/"},"modified":"2016-01-29T17:21:51","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T16:21:51","slug":"theatre-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.area-arch.it\/en\/theatre-square\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre Square"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some few principal moves organize the design of Theater Square subdividing it in four main recognizable spaces: the garden in the south, the covered square in the north, the mall along Oudevaartplaats, the equipped space along Meistraat. The design of the garden: a landscape made of three levels, three main colours, three volumes. The level of the existing trees forms the first and highest volume, a new playable ground the second and finally flowers and couvre-sol the third. The garden is an important infiltration zone where the rainwater, collected from Theater Square, can infiltrate. People sitting on the terraces of the southern fa\u00e7ade enjoy through its transparencies the spectacle of the square till the terraces of the two theatres cafeterias on the opposite side. The design of the square is based on the elimination of the existing barriers. Usable by everyone, a comfortable space, easy functioning, the square is defined by a unique coloured concrete surface, 2% sloping, connecting the theatre entrances to the garden and Nieuwstad. A minimum resistance path, i.e. accessible to disables, crosses diagonally the square from the Frankrijklei and the bus and pre-metro stops to the theatres and the Meir. A part of the square is covered. The theatre doesn\u2019t need a new fa\u00e7ade. The existing fa\u00e7ade is a honest brutalist architecture of the seventies; what is needed is not to leave it floating in the void of a unmeasured square. The cover has the role of inventing a relation and a shared proportion between the theatre and the public space. Supported by slim steel columns, incorporating lights and raining water, it will allow new views from and to the theatre fa\u00e7ade. The virtual surface of the elongated new safety stairs along the Meistraat and the cover form a virtual cube that confronts itself with the scale of the theatre. The design of the borders characterises each border of the square in a different way. Along Maria Pijpelincxstraat and Oudevaartplaats, paved in kasseien (reuse of existing pavement), all the existing trees are maintained and many others are added without a decrease of parking places. Starting from Maria Pijpelincxstraat towards the south, a ramp and a series of large steps give an easy access to the cafeterias and the square; after it a curbed slope, accessible for market trucks, gives an easy access to the theatre and square. The west-southern border becomes a bench. Along the southern border the height of the bench decreases till zero as the level of the ground increases. Steps, gradients and differences in levels are the realm of the skaters that are the day-frequenters of the square. Along the Meistraat the design does not touch the eastern side. On the western side, along the theatre, it provides a place for school buses, loading and unloading. A series of stairs and ramps connect the street, the square and the underground parking. An informal sport field and a bicycle parking are located on the south-east corner of the square. Along the northern and southern border the terraces of the two theatre cafeterias and the caf\u00e9s located.
\nThe existing safety stairs are demolished and substituted by new stairs organizing in a better way the way out of the different levels of the theatres. A first group of stairs is located along Maria Pijpelincxstraat; a second group gives rise to a light metal structure on the square: a virtual limit on the eastern side. This structure can be used in many ways: f.i. as a technical scene for an open air theatre.<\/p>\n