Project in MA with BE Weinand.
The cultural hall Victor Jara is in the middle of the historical centre of Soignies, a city 50 km away from Brussels. The nearby blue stone quarries have shaped the region and its memory. Between the invisible presence of the Senne river at the outer limit of the site and the massive collegiate
overshadowing it, the building covered with rough stone crust takes shape as a rocky topography.
The proposal goes beyond its initial ambition, which is the construction of a multipurpose performing arts hall by including in its scope the carnival and other street festivals.
The building contains, in its morphology, the two sides of the local cultural dynamic: institutional culture inside the building, and folkloric culture outside and on the building.
By doing this, the project avoids the logic of the closed box and proposes a very urban interpretation of the concept of show.
Laid on the Van Zeeland square, the building was designed as an extension of the public space that surrounds it: it penetrates in the interior by numerous entrances around the building. The hall footprint was limited to allow a new square on the East side, which appears as an outside foyer.
The surface of the stage stretches to half of the total surface, which makes possible large-scale dance and theatre shows. The telescopic seating (from 400 to 600) guarantees use flexibility according to the nature of the show.
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