The Line

Tim Griffith Photographer

• Architects/designers

In medieval times, both the rich and poor alike, viewed performances as a means of entertainment. Today, the theater is seen largely as an upper to middle class means of entertainment. This is a changing phenomenon with lowering ticket prices and more casual theater settings around the world. From the Greek amphitheater, the Roman theater, and the medical theater, to New York’s Broadway and Milan’s fashion week, The Line offers a new take on the archaic event setting, and the rural performance.

photo_credit Tim Griffith Photographer — Tim Griffith Photographer

The Line rethinks what the role of the rural can be and acts as an armature for a new type of ‘rural performance’. The form is made into one continuous line from start to end and is synthesized into its most basic parts: the performance and the procession.

The project brief requested a pavilion venue for weddings, music, and art events. A large constraint behind this project was dealing with what was essentially a micro budget, largely due to the temporary nature of the project.

The resulting design produced a certain ‘generic’ quality that opens the use up to multiple possibilities - when its exact use is indeterminate. At the same time, there is almost a responsibility and an intrigue to allow it to become even more than what is imaginable, it takes on a life of its own. Given that so many works today are consumed with trying to create a spectacle, we looked at it more as a contradiction - a 'generic' spectacle.

For its users and visitors, it has proved itself as an object of intrigue and has outlived its initial projected lifespan. It hascreated a new local micro economy, offering a venue for small events and performances for the local and regional community.

Because The Line floats on pier footings, it has an ultra low footprint on the land it sits on; and when the projects life runs its course, it will return the landscape with little impact.