Proposal / Promotion Award
Our vision is based on highlighting the existing cultural and historical heritage and its values, preserving the authenticity of the circus building and its original substance, as well as respecting the building’s volume and spatial solution. Historically, the circus has always been traveling and free. We want to highlight these two words and such important concepts in our new vision of the circus building, where each element and their mutual interaction bring them to life in a perceptible and tangible urban environment. We want to interpret and introduce the nomadic nature characteristic of the circus, where the main tent of the circus arena has always been surrounded by motley artists’ wagons, into our vision of the circus, highlighting the impressive dome and contrasting it with small-scale airy room boxes that will be adaptable to different functions. The arrangement of these rooms and the interplay with the main dome, in our opinion, reflect the apparent “wrongness”, chaos and eclecticism of the circus, which has always been mixed with the sophistication and breathtaking precision of circus art, where neither an extra millimeter nor an unnecessary movement is allowed.
It is important to note that since time immemorial the circus has been a place for the outcasts of society, who did not fit into traditional society because of their strangeness. In addition, the circus has always gathered big and small, rich and poor, regardless of their affiliation or the thickness of their wallet. We also want to highlight this openness and accessibility in our new building concept, giving visitors the opportunity to get closer to the dome of the building and expanding the public space of the area, creating a multi-purpose roof space with paths, greenery and an amphitheater area in the depth of the building behind the dome.
Our goal is to create a functional and open space that opens up the possibilities for a brand new circus that focuses on the interplay of mind and body at both ground and roof levels and that, together with the volume of the building, creates a new anchor point for attracting people, events and investment. It is important for the circus to be a place for everyone, where stereotypes are broken, where boundaries are demolished, where everyone is accepted and where we can freely learn from each other – both the audience from the artist and the artist from the audience… Creating the environment of Riga Circus in an eclectic manner characteristic of a circus.
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PROJECT TYPE
Competition;
Public architecture -
TEAM
LAAGA ARCHITECTS: Madara Gibze, Paulis Gibze
Independent architects and artists:
Helvijs Savickis, Manuel Bonell, Kristians Mednis,
Ilva Cīrule, Uldis Āmars and Elza Rone-Sila
ALPS landscape design workshop:
Māris Bušs, Marc Geldof, Helēna Gūtmane,
Eva Plaude and Ilze Rukšāne
McCann Riga: Ljeta Putāne, Gatis Zēbergs
Linia: Arvīds Līkops
Arenso: Matīss Apsītis -
LOCATION
Riga, Latvia
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TIME
2018. y.
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TOTAL AREA
4 150 m² (reconstruction),
4 800 m² (planned building)
