It's OK to Dance Anywhere

2023

DS1120: 2GA Integrated Comprehensive Studio

Instructor: Devyn Weiser

Assistant Teacher: Paige Davidson

The L.A. Dance Project in Pico Union is a choreography of space and interaction; it embodies a dialogue between contemporary dance and urban community life. This project challenges traditional theater forms, integrating the dance environment with the cultural and everyday rhythms of the locale. Drawing inspiration from the interplay of work and play discussed by Alexander Galloway, and Frank Gehry’s sculptural and responsive design philosophy seen in Edgemar and Loyola Law School, the building itself acts as a stage—where the boundaries between performer and audience blur, inviting everyone into the dance.

In the project, a collection of buildings, playfully arranged around a vibrant courtyard. Every surface and facade invites interaction, turning the exteriors into the neighborhood's new front and the interiors into lively communal courtyards. This space is designed to be as fluid and dynamic as the performances it hosts, integrating playful elements that dissolve the distinction between performers and the public.

Emphasizing connectivity, a public open terrace leads to a community plaza, which acts as both an extension of the theater and a communal area, inviting interaction and celebration of the arts at all hours.

Site: Pico Union, Los Angeles, CA

The studio project is a new building for Los Angeles Dance Project, a progressive Dance company based in Downtown Los Angeles known for its research and contemporary programming addressing the needs of various stakeholders and the diversity of the performing arts and to contemporary dance practices. Designed and imagined specifically for dance, the new building, its main hall, and other supporting spaces, will aim to become the premiere location to perform and experience dance in Los Angeles.

The core and heart of the building will be the main hall and rehearsal studios. Combining great acoustics and audience sight lines, the stage should be designed for optimal viewing of world class dance performances. The theater should allow flexibility for a widespread artistic programming, as well as foster and partner with community Programs, plus regularly present performance companies of all artistic genres. The space should consider state-of-the art acoustics to create an ideal location for ongoing dance music programming. The new building should house a space designed exclusively for the creation of film and digital content. In the spirit of the building, this space will be made available to the community for artistic endeavors.

0-Stay humble.

Based near the Pico union Project, the main urban context of the district is a diverse and peaceful residential district. So the approach to the typology of theater departs from traditional civic and monumental concepts, focusing on community engagement, an existence that is integrated into the city space and close to the public as this dance theatre is for every generation.

1-Precedents

FOR precedents, I studied frank gehry’s Edgemar and Loyola Law school. FRANK Gehry approaches each building as a sculptural object, a spatial container, a space with light and air, a response to context and appropriateness of feeling and spirit. To this container, this sculpture, the user brings his baggage, his program, and interacts with it to accommodate his needs. In this projects all sides of the buildings become front, exterior become neighborhoods front, the inside become the courtyard front. BOTH of them are sort of abstract village projects or sculptural compositions.

2-A Plaza Project

For the L. A. Dance Project, I'm looking to create a similar strategy of multiple buildings, loosely arranged around a courtyard,providing an open and playful space for various activities, making it a dynamic and inclusive part of everyday life for the community.

3-Terrace garden