Zafra Municipal Theatre
Spain CCC ES
Enrique Krahe
2009
Type
Theatre
Tags
cultural facilities, back to the rural realm, Spain ccc, performing spaces
Visitability
Allowed
Description
Public space as an active environment needs to be continually reinvented: planning this process from premises that focus on heritage and landscaping is compatible with others that prioritise recreational or environmental aspects. In this way, the space occupied by the theatre is a sort of stage on which strategies are deployed to reconcile the different events that take place on a daily basis and which resolve the transition between the historic city and nature – at present – or between the monumental city and the suburbs under construction – in the near future –.This intermediate space, with its double dimension and directionality, responds to the diversity of the surrounding buildings, seeking a fluid connection with the pedestrian centre – evoking its succession of squares through thresholds and narrow passages that block the views and then gradually open up –, connecting with the new areas and finally extending the views towards the horizon.The new layout offers unobstructed routes with gentle slopes, allowing full accessibility for visitors and restricted access for vehicles. Portuguese and deactivated concrete pavements delimit the terraced gardens attached to the perimeter of the plot, which is occupied by ancillary buildings, two of which feature vernacular elements such as tiled vaults and slate masonry walls that are to be used in future extensions of the cultural programme.The buildingThe irregularity and extension of the party walls are an invitation to occupy the plot by dissolving the programme, creating a new double-height envelope (close to the scale of the existing buildings) that absorbs the disordered geometry of the rear parts of the adjoining plots and offers a representative image. The main volume, which houses the stagehouse, the main hall and a rehearsal room, emerges above this sort of irregular base, creating a geometry that extends the nearby roofscape and evokes the rough backdrop of the Castellar mountain range.The design of this space has sought a balance between the versatility of this type of facility for medium-sized urban centres (cinema, theatre, function and concert room...), with the necessary technical, visual and acoustic suitability. In addition, a large practicable backstage was designed, so that the stagehouse (in addition to offering a position that favours direct loading and unloading), articulates interior and exterior, projecting towards both areas, making it possible to use the lighting to offer informal performances towards the square.(Description provided by the architects)