Dance school

MICA has completed a small but carefully designed extension to the Weston Studio for the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance on the School’s Violet Needham Chapel site in Twickenham. Sited in the St Margaret’s Estate conservation area and within the flood zone of the adjacent River Thames, the project provides additional dance studio space for teaching and practice to accommodate increased student numbers. Andy Stagg The project makes the most of the landscape setting, providing a room in the garden, improving the relationship between the existing studio and the garden, providing access deeper into the landscape with improved accessibility for all. The architecture interprets the varied architectural language o... More

The Cimendef building, designed by Périphériques architects in 2015, was supposed to be a media library. The opening of the library didn’t happen but the building itself was bought by the Region Reunion Office. The new owner decided to put different cultural facilities in it by mixing together the Regional Music School (CRR), the headquarter of an association promoting local music (PRMA) and a part of the Literature Regional Center (CLR). The building is brand new but it needs to be changed to welcome those new uses. Luc Boegly This conservatory comes as an urban answer to the need of new centrality for the Saint Paul commune. It structures the « entrance » to the city. It requires a strong image on the... More

The Tanzwerk is built within the Migros logistics facility in Zurich West. Before this conversion, the premises were used for banana ripening and food storage. Today, the spatial programme of Switzerland’s largest dance school is divided into 12 dance studios, a large dance auditorium and workrooms with various service rooms. Roger Frei The large-format glass partition walls allow generous light distribution deep into the building core. The spiral exposed concrete staircase connects the wide entrance area with the floors below. The careful, reduced choice of materials produces a spatial atmosphere with an industrial feel: concrete, glass and yellow chromatised steel, together with acoustic sprayed plaster ceilings and textile ve... More

This is the refurbishment of a building built in 1965 along one of the main streets leading from the historic centre to the suburbs. A large construction that uses to host shops and apartments now is transformed into a dance school.The project focused on the strengths of the existing building: large volumes, horizontality, distinction between structure and perimeter walls, juxtaposition between voids and masses. Inside the project maintains the original commercial character, and thanks to few and careful actions it gains four wide rooms, changing rooms and waiting rooms. More