Projects

DESIGN
The model for the School of the Arts (SOTA) is a Laboratory of Creativity, where research is done, creative work made, and the results of this work communicated—between students, between teachers and students, between the school and the surrounding urban fabric, and between the school and the wider community. To create this creative environment, each decision throughout the design process has been made to enhance the experiences of researching, making and showing, to interact with, and intensify, the urban fabric, and to create a porous and sustainable interface with the climate and culture.

The design strategy was to create two visually connected horizontal strata—a space for public communication below, and a space for safe, controlled interaction above. This simple, bold strategy solves in one bold stroke the twin objectives of porosity and communication with the public and wider arts community on the one hand, and a secure and safe learning environment on the other. These two strata are called the Backdrop and the Blank Canvas.

The Backdrop is the public lower stratum where interpretation and communication at the public level occurs. Containing a concert hall, drama theatre, black box theatre and several small informal performing spaces, it is literally a backdrop for presenting artistic works and performances. A challenging, exciting, unexpected environment, the Backdrop is an indoor/outdoor, folded, moulded, flowing and faceted space that will challenge young minds to think out of the box. The metaphor adopted is that of a gargantuan mass of stone, which has been partially chiselled away to reveal volumes of varying proportion, much like gems embedded inside a rock. Surfaces that are imagined as 'finished' are rendered to a smooth finish. 'Unfinished' surfaces are treated with a rough, unfinished texture of concrete. This raw form of construction with its rough aesthetics also has the added advantage of being robust enough to accommodate slight inconsistencies in tonality, which is generally difficult to control given the massive extent of these approximately 16-metre high tapering monolithic feature walls. The state-of-the-art facilities combined with the dramatic environment will ensure the school complements and adds variety to the existing performance and exhibition venues in the area. This public space is a tropical urban plaza, covered yet breezy.

The Blank Canvas, the secure upper stratum, is where making, interpreting and communicating happens between individuals and groups within the school. The academic blocks that form the upper six levels of SOTA sit atop the 'rocky' pedestal. Although this level is controlled through a single point of access (the lift core and the escalator), it is visually connected, from all the circulation spaces to the public areas below. This environment is simple, practical, bright and airy, and is designed for maximum flexibility and sustainability.

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