NTU Architecture Subject Group

A Play For Tomorrow

Situated in the east of London lay an iconic site, The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This site has undergone major regeneration in preparation of the London 2012 Olympics Games. In order to keep the site vibrant and attractive to both national and international visitors, the Stratford Waterfront is undergoing yet another stage of redevelopment. As part of this regeneration scheme, this project does not introduce something new to the desired results, but rather enhances the vision of creating a global cultural attraction.
This project aims to explore the expression of culture through the medium of dance. Dance is not just limited to cultural aspects but can be demonstrated through architecture. This project is inspired by Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet movement in 1922 who was a Bauhaus painter, sculptor, and teacher. Schlemmer's work is entirely done in threes. This is seen as three dancers, and three acts that have twelve choreographies and eighteen costumes. The first act is yellow, symbolising cheerfulness. The second act being pink, connoting ceremonies and festivity. Lastly, the third act is black, showing a more mystical and esoteric appeal. The costumes restrict the dancer, and therefore puts a limit on the choreography.
These ideas have been explored through the architecture of my project. As Schlemmer worked in threes, this project is also in threes. The cultural centre has three main elements and uses of materiality: timber, concrete, and brick. It also has three uses: a dance academy, theatres, and a retail unit at waterfront level. The dance academy is the string that pulls the functionality of this project together, creating a home for creativity and celebrating cultural differences.

Ashleigh Muzvidziwa
Student name
Ashleigh Muzvidziwa
Course
MArch Architecture
Contact
LinkedIn
@ashleighmuzvidziwa
Award
NTU Head of School Award

MArch Architecture

The Master of Architecture (MArch) embraces the challenge of 21st Century architectural practice and focuses on educating architects with a global outlook through projects set in local, national, and international contexts.

Through “vertical studios” in each year of study, steered by leading practitioners and academics, we put current architectural thinking at the heart of the course. We locate architectural design centrally as an academic discipline through rigorous cross-disciplinary design research and complex methodological application. The course recognises the essential cross-cutting and cross-disciplinary nature of architecture, bringing together diverse disciplines aiming to create collaborative/group work as a means of developing design creativity within the realistic teamwork environment of practice. All projects will be developed considering sustainability, environmental, socio-economic and cultural aspects, rather than being studied and applied as discrete areas of teaching and learning.

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