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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Bronks youth theatre in Brussels, Belgium by MDMAJune 2nd, 2011 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: MDMA The theatre is situated at the Pig Market/Varkensmarkt/Marcé aux porcs. The overall form of a theater is already defined for the larger part by the problem of acoustics; how to solve it. In essence the Bronks is no more then two large boxes fit together with around it enough margin for circulation and acoustics. Below stage level ‘half under under street level’, we have put the reception, sanitary facilities and techniques. Under the roof top sit the administration and café cum foyer.  Front View
 Side View
Realisation
 Entrance
Façade and roof are then literally and figuratively spoken loose standing problems that are subject to quite a number of boundary conditions. Building in an historical center is no sinecure. It demands the perfect alignement with the adjacent roofs of neighbouring houses, to keep to the rhythm of windows and façades such displayed in the surrounding block. Contrary to the surrounding historical houses, we are dealing here with a public building. How can we make it as yet visible ?  Theatre Hall In contrast to the closed back façade, which shields off the ‘big’ theater hall, we have chosen for an open glazed front façade two meters behind, the wall of the (repetition)hall can slide open. It allows to put a play on stage with ‘real’ street animation at the back. Pedagogy is part of the job of a youth theatre and more precisely working with ‘the street’.  Interior View Structurally our front façade is made up out of a plane in which we have cut 2 rectangular holes. What remains is a passe-partout which we have turned inside through and what brings about that specific horizontal partition. We call it the champagne bar being a step up to the café/foyer. It’s not the only partition that we will use.  Bronks youth theatre Between the two ‘O’s that form the theater halls we have introduced a ‘7’, a septum, being a rotative wall partition (at both sides being cladded with mirrors) and what can direct public and private traffic of people into interchangable alleys. For all it’s a plaything, but it tries to meet also to the demand for a flexible multifunctional building. The septum ranges amongst other movable items such as a telescopic seating area, a mechanically heigtened stage floor, in the big hall, the acoustic sliding walls that can turn the front hall into two repetition halls. By placing two staircases against each other in the central circulation zone, one private, one public including the septum in its middle; the entry to the halls can vary.  Interior View The theater can function next to the repetition space or in the festival period two plays can be performed simultaneously. Stage 1 takes the stairs on the right, stage 2 takes the stairs on the left, or vica versa. One can either choose to enter the hall in the center or at the rear and downstairs instead of upstairs (given the fact also whether the telescopic seating area is pulled out or not). The reception below stage level is rebuildable into workshops.  Interior View The café has its own staircase and elevator and can function independently from the theater. It offers a great view over the Pig Market and the Brique quays. Finally other scenario’s of entering the building are possible. For instance through the ‘coach house’. Before, the oldest ‘breedhuis’, literally translated as ‘broad house’ of Brussels was standing on this site and which became demolished in 1989.  Hall Out of a leaf of paper two holes are cut. What remains is turned inside through to create a ‘horizontal piece of façade’ in its middle. We call this horizontal façade the champagne bar. It is a step up to the café on top. OO7. The building consists of two halls, two holes in-between of which a central circulation shaft is situated. The staircase has the shape of a double helix with swing doors (coated with mirrors) placed on every intermediate landing. We call it ‘the septum’. It regulates the use of the halls in a myriad of ways.  Interior View Suspension. We tried to make the halls, materialized in concrete, float and soar in light. Apart of the staircases, circulation ‘around’, consist for a large part out of ramps. They render a sense of detachment from the horizontal, the horizon. Street theatre: looking in through the big glass in the front façade, one is confronted with a ground level that is elevated one meter up to scene level. Two meters behind, the wall of the repetition hall slides open. Reception, sanitary facilities, techniques sit below. In the main hall at the back of the building, telescopic seating area and scene do the trick of multi-functionality. In a rather small theatre (some 3500 m2, seating areas 200persons per hall) we have to generate a lot.  Exterior View Minute folds. We fold to fit a purpose and not just arbitrary. One slant in the back façade is echoed through the main theatre hall to accomplish a sound acoustic atmosphere. Across/acoustics. Groping/Gropius. No cubism but, small nuance, a blocking together of volumes around which a loose skin is wrapped that in turn is subjected to contextual parameters. Strict alignment with the neighbour roofs is an imperative when one builds in the historic centre of Brussels.
 Site Plan 01 Membrane The façade is a membrane, a plane where one steps through. In one corner it can be opened into a coach house, an intermediate zone, a void as main entry. As such the façade assembles facets that are repeated inside. Play after play. Inside people are in for a surprise. Door after door, plane after plane another space unfolds, creating the illusion at least of largitude. In the festival season several plays can be performed simultaneously. Sphere and labyrinth. At the basis of an utterly simple plan we tried to fuse the labyrinthine with loops of circulation. We were helped hereby by the varying heights of spaces required. Eventually no one looses the way, whereby the ‘search’ extends into a surge of light, vistas and air. Make believe that one is not moving in an enclosed setting -a dug out- 13 meters below roof structure. Every space is designed with equal care. Eyesight will never fall flat on a wall. Stride : we can reflect on the design as a long process of ‘optimisation’ (spend 14years on 4 projects for 2 sites). Brussels has imposed on us (and on itself) a build work whereby every decision is weighted, every dime is counted, no space is wasted. ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin’.
 Site Plan 02 Building materials The overall construction is in fair-faced concrete with a roof structure in steel works. Exterior : Wall and roof cladding as well as window frames in aluminium, coated bronze. Brick tiles at the the rear coloured aubergine. Interior : Selective cladding with boards of plywood, aubergine coloured. Floors in wood or epoxy coloured purple (paars in Dutch).
 Site Plan 03 Sustainability First cultural building in an impoverished quarter of the historical centre, resulting in a socio-economic boost within a wider perimeter (galleries,restaurants, shops, …). Ecology : Halls enclosed by malls work as an energy saver. Within this logic glass walls are tripled glazed, a greenhouse effect is enforced.
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