A twist in the river, a node in the river: the node is an island. The island is a circulation-route: a dome that morphs into a bowl that morphs into a dome.

The bowl functions as a theatre. Bleachers wave in and out; when the bowl isn’t used as a theatre, it’s a plaza — you sit face-to-face, in everyday conversation.

The dome functions as a café/restaurant. The entrance canopy twists down to make lounge seats around the dome. Curved triangular tables and stools are movable; they’re joined together, for different-sized groups of people. The rubber edge of the terrace above twists down to make multiple bar counters, at different heights. Water pours down the shell of the dome; up on the terrace, you sit under a waterfall.

The warping of dome into bowl, and vice versa, forms a playground, a space frame that functions as monkey bars, a tubular slide cuts through the grid. Functions are mixed on this island: the playground doubles as the backdrop of the stage and as a wall and ceiling.

Light streams up from beneath the bleachers, in the bowl, and down from the roof structure, in the dome.

Data

Designer:
Acconci Studio
Brooklyn NYC
www.acconci.com

Location:
Graz, Austria

Description:
Multiuse, Cultural

Status:
Completed

Date:
2003

Area: 1,052 sq. m.

Materials:
Steel, glass, rubber, asphalt, water, light

Project team:
Acconci Studio
(Vito Acconci, Dario Nunez, Stephen Roe, Peter Dorsey, Thomas Siegl, Gia Wolff)

Engineers:
Zenckner & Handl, Kurt Kratzer

Contractors:
SFL

Credits & Copyrights

Design:
Acconci Studio

Drawings:
Acconci Studio

Photoes:
Acconci Studio
First image of the image gallery:
Harry Schiffer

Text:
Acconci Studio

Source:
Acconci Studio

Image by Harry Schiffer

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