(In)visible Platform

2020 | The New Theatre with Living Laboratory

This project for housing insecure college students is a spatial template for co-existence that introduces veiled, mutualistic habitable volumes into a theatre.

This thesis is an experiment in implanting heterogeneous rooms into stable, existing interior space. The host volume is the Theatre for a New Audience - a modern theatre for performances based on classical Shakespeare plays.

The thesis expands the theatre’s social utility as an art centre and deepens the cooperation with neighbouring universities through the dual use of its performative living stage for diverse civil educational programs. The Veil of Ignorance is a theoretical framework for an internal system of equality, morality, and humanity.

The exterior open plaza of the building extends into the lobby, where patrons can enjoy summer movie nights, The audience may opt to wait for a performance in the center circular lounge, which has a small cafe, or they may enter the ‘egalitarian village’ (stage) through a narrow spiral ramp surrounding the lounge. Along the ramp, they may see silhouettes of actors in the adjacent dressing and green rooms, bounded by a translucent partition, facing the ramp. The vertical farm, shower, dining room, kitchens, and back entrance, noted in the plan, are shared spaces for both residents and theatre crew.

On the second floor, patrons ascending the ramp, arrive at the main stage of the floor plan. Within the first-floor café, an upward glance toward the transparent ceiling reveals the partial ceiling of the stage (horizontal units). Inside the stage, stairs on both sides allow access to the second and third-floor balconies. The stair near the building entry is a vertical circulation, obscured by veils, reaching the fourth-floor residential living units. The audience may take their seats or enjoy the lounge where they will see silhouettes of resident movement behind the veil.

The second-floor mezzanine is the entry space for the theatre balcony and functions as a circulation area to reach residential units. The stair (east wing of the stage) originating on the first floor, is connected to horizontal living units on the fourth floor.

On the third floor, vertical living units connect to the Dream Factory, and the stair between the vertical living units leads to the hallway of horizontal living units located on the fourth floor. Integral mechanical rooms for a theatre are located on the east wing of the stage.

Thirty living units are on the fourth floor. All living units are adjacent to a bathroom, a small kitchen, and common areas so that residents can access these areas even during production. The stairs lead to the vertical pods’ hallway, and residents can easily access the Dream Factory and reach other facilities in the back of the building (west wing of the stage).

Living Pod Design | Horizontal Living Units

Living Pod Design | Vertical Living Units

The Coexisting Stage

In the New Theatre stage, living units create ambient lighting and haze for the performance. Residents’ silhouettes may appear behind the veil during a performance. Living Extension units are traveling over the ceiling, and we can see the silhouette of a resident. Pink light means the unit is vacant, and a yellow light indicates residents are home. The stage director may adjust the brightness of the whole lighting for specific scenes.

Autonomous Seating System

The New Theatre leverages an autonomous seating system. Seats are a fixed price, and the guests determine their position in the theater. Since each perimeter wall is designed to interlock the foldable chairs, the audience can select any chair from the wall and sit wherever they please. Every audience member has varying perspectives in viewing a production, and this design invites spontaneous and random seating placements to reflect these varying perspectives. Honoring each person’s seating perspective and yielding to each other’s convenience, is a vital concept of this multi-usage stage, which intentionally blurs divisions between the stage and seating areas.

Multi-Usage of the Stage

Toward Co-existing Society

Host and parasitic volumes, which are the core of this design study, concern new internal volumetric connections. Although defining parasitic volumes may be controversial because of the negative connotations of the term ‘parasite,’ the reality is that homeless or housing insecure college students must confront exigent circumstances subjecting them to parasitic modes of living. However, the thesis initiates an interpretation of parasitic volumes as a promising cornerstone for a co-existing society. Mutualistic volumes are an attempt to empower vulnerable populations with a supportive interior system by repurposing the interiors of community-based public buildings.

The fundamental purpose of these design strategies (furniturization, systematic veils, and autonomous seating system) is to move toward an egalitarian society where people can perceive less visible issues and hear muted voices. These strategies create permanent living spaces for housing insecure college students and space where residents, theatre workers, and the public can utilize the same building according to their needs. Notably, residents’ lifestyle behaviors become a process of performative living based on the interior system to address homelessness and reduce college student homelessness.

Lobby Furniture Catalog