Performance Place

Riva San Vitale, Switzerland

This project listens first. The program started as performance space, and evolved from the prescribed to what the place and people need. I learned the language and spoke with locals. I documented site conditions. The proposal is hence a series of small buildings that read together as a set. It’s a study of a unit as a microcosm of the whole. The unit is repeated, establishing a grid, and the grid establishes an order. In establishing an order and an architectural language, all elements come together and are celebrated in the Performance space. The other three spaces: Practice, Play, and Park, derive their architectural language from Performance.

The architectural language and delineation of space is meant as a balance between programmed and programmable. In most its life, the Performance building would not host a formal performance. It becomes a place to gather, offers informal seating, frames views of Lake Lugano, a space to secure a bicycle, a momentary refuge from rainfall.

Additionally, the supporting micro-buildings cater to the pragmatic and day-to-day needs of the residents of Riva S. Vitale. This set of buildings is meant to be a part of the people’s everyday life, that are occasionally charged with a Performance.