Beijing Start Ballet Foundation
The project is designed as a spatial performance, a didactic journey exploring the dual facets of Ballet; an on-stage appearance of effortless grace, and an off-stage reality of discipline, of resolute strength. Act one, the entry, features an airy sculptural spectacle that is at once a stage, a stair, and a passage. Act two, the studio proper, in contrast, exerts a visual weight through the use of materials, light, and proportions.
Ballet in Asia is often associated with feminine, even weak art form. Yet, if you have ever attempted a pirouette, you will know that it is anything but. This dichotomy between a display of lightness and the realities of gravity resonated with us. We felt compelled to tell its story and to try and achieve the sense of motion, and grace through inanimate devices. We looked at Bernini’s marble drapes and ballet instructions. For instance, the emphasis on the eye to hand connection in Vaganova methods inspired the relationship between the handrail and the shadow line in the ceiling.
Ballet in Asia is often associated with a weak art form. Yet, if you ever attempted a pirouette, you will know that it is anything but. This dichotomy between a display of lightness and the realities of gravity resonated with us. We felt compelled to strive for a sense of elevation through inanimate devices. Bernini’s drapes and ballet methods were our inspirations. E.g. the emphasis on the eye to hand connection in Vaganova methods inspired the relationship between the handrail and shadow line in the ceiling.
To create a seamless sculptural passage, the stair geometry is primarily defined by two pairs of rails, one that traces one's hand from the edge of the front desk onto the stair rail, and another from the outer rail onto the wall and ceiling. The surface between the rails adopts a slight curvature, generating concave and convex surfaces that gently graduate the northern daylight, thereby giving lightness to the form. Burnt Sienna white was specified in matt and gloss for the walls and inner rail respectively, to complete the space with just a touch of warmth against the cooler concrete.
