CAIAC

About This Project

Professor: Miguel Escanciano, Ignacio Vicens
University:ETSAM (Madrid)
Year: 2010

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DESCRIPTION

The Advanced Centre of Cultural and Artistic Experiences is located in old Docklands area, a place in the west Thames Riverbank in London, equidistant from the new Millennium Dom and the old Tower of London. The plot is set at the foot of a large roundabout on Westferry Road tunnels, next to the business district of Canary Wharf. One of the uses of the building is educational for graduate students. There are different kinds of classes like music, dance, arts, workshops… But there are also cultural spaces to share with the city, like the cafeteria, the auditorium or the exposition spaces.

The building is divided in two volumes. The smaller one houses the auditorium, while a 80x40m, 3-storey volume houses the educational facilities of the new center. This volume is lifted over the ground by columns, so that enables to create a transparent and fluent big plaza under the building where the cafeteria and the exposition spaces are located. A small footbridge joins the two volumes, so the auditorium is accessed via the main volume. The educational volume façade is made by perforated sheet metal that provides homogeneity to the building. The perforation size varies depending on the orientation to be more energy efficient.

Internally, the floors are articulated arranging classrooms, workshops and offices around the perimeter, while the more public spaces are articulated around two courtyards that provide light and ventilation to the building. There is a communication core to solve the vertical circulation while corridors lighten by the courtyards provide the circulation in each floor.