Rhythm
2021 | Sydney Harbour | Created with Rhino, Enscape, Autocad and Photoshop
“...Dance is sacred. It is a prayer for the future, a remembrance of the past and a joyful exclamation of thanks for the present.” | Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
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The project, Sydney Harbour Drama House, is inspired by the Italian architect Aldo Rossi’s Teatro del Mundo. The brief was to design a floating theatre along Sydney Harbour.
The proposed theatre is situated at Hickson Road Reserve. The site looks onto Sydney Passenger Terminal where people arrive and depart from Sydney on boat. So much of Sydney’s population have entered the harbour this way, on boat, with four out of every ten Sydneysiders being either migrants or the children of migrants. In choosing this site (combined with the architectural cues of the designed theatre) people arriving at the theatre are prompted to reflect on Sydney’s migrant history. Therefore, I saw an opportunity for the proposed theatre to recognise Sydney’s subsequently multi-cultural nature and offer a space that celebrates the bringing together of different cultures through the common language of dance.
Given the intent of the theatre is to celebrate the multi-cultural fabric of Sydney, I wanted the theatre to focus on cultural dancing. Following my research I categorised the cultural dances into the following: Circular movement, Linear movement, Sound performances and Outdoor performances. I therefore came to the conclusion that the proposed design offer four smaller theatres: the Wrap Around Theatre, the Layered Theatre, the Elemental Theatre and the Drum Theatre. Each theatre offers a customised stage to suit these different categories of dance.
Given it is so intrinsic to the theatre’s conceptual foundation, the arrival of people by boat needed to be thoughtfully crafted so that it itself became performative. Thus the location from which people are collected via boat is important to crafting a journey that reflects on migration and Sydney’s history. Therefore, in order to get to the theatre, boats pick people up from designated docking areas along Sydney harbour. The selected locations are sites of historical significance prompting passengers to reflect on different aspects of Sydney’s cultural history as they move through the Harbour. The docks are all east of the theatre with the idea being that people arrive at the theatre from the same route so many others before them have arrived at Sydney.
The final design solution prompts people to remember Sydney’s migrant history both through their own arrival at the theatre by boat and by the way the architecture curves to ensure their visual connection to the Sydney Passenger Terminal. Upon arriving at the theatre, the boat docks into a partially enclosed room. People then walk along a pathway that transitions them into the building. A timber ‘wall’ of fragmented arches is used to direct people’s views as they enter the theatre. These arches vary in proximity to one another and length, as if alternating to the beat of a rhythm.
The timber ‘wall’ of fragmented arches is used to direct people’s views. As people first exit from the boat and walk out onto the patway their view of the Theatre is mostly blocked by this timber wall. Instead their view is directed towards Sydney Passenger Terminal, reinforcing a connection with Sydney’s migrant history. As people continue along the pathway they are only once given a glimpse into the building into the social centre of the design. Once inside the building the entry foyer offers a visual connection to the Social Stage where the public are invited to partake in dance. The Social Stage has a view that looks out onto the Harbour bridge. The restaurant also has a framed view in another direction of the Harbour Bridge on one side, and a framed view of the Social Stage on the other.
The Wrap Around Theatre is designed for dancing that is more audience interactive, breaking the fourth wall. Employing a wrap around stage, the audience is placed within the stage and the seating curves to encourage audience interaction. Specially designed seating has been used in this theatre. The seats are able to be mechanically raised and lowered and turned 360 degrees ensuring easy engagement with both stages. The lighting conditions in this theatre are also most unique.
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The Layered Theatre is the most formalised, designed for theatrical dancing. The theatre includes a sunken orchestra pit and the stage is layered. A series of curtains may be used at the performers discretion, incrementally revealing a stage as the performance moves forward. Behind the final curtain sits the framed view of the Harbour Bridge, providing a stunning backdrop that may be revealed to create further dramatic flair.
The outdoor theatre called the Elemental Theatre designed to connect with the natural elements; sand, water, sun and wind; important parts of Indigenous dancing. The stage is surrounded by shallow water that dancers may step into as part of their performance. The stage is a sand pit further creating a natural condition. Fabric cloths have been suspended from the timber roof structure of the outdoor theatre. They both frame people’s view and accentuate the winds connection to the dance space.
The Drum Theatre is tailored for dancing in which a core element of the dance is the sound the dancers produce. For example, the tapping of feet in Irish dancing or the shaking of bells in Indian dancing. The stage in this space is hollow, designed to act similarly to a drum, accentuating the noise created by the dancers for the audience. The back of the stage curves concave, like a hollow egg shell, designed to bounce noise back at the audience.
