Project description

UNCOVER is the keyword leading this retrofit proposal in Dundee, Scotland. The site, the fly tower part of the King's Theatre, has been sealed for hundreds of years. My proposal physically and literally reveals the inner structure, the function it used to serve, and the memory it contains with a breathable architectural intervention.

Another dominant concept of the project is to curate spaces according to body movement. The cover page offers a close look at me walking around my workplace and the surrounding area, creating 'paths'. The contrast between the organic path of human movement and the rigid shape of the fixed structure is a crucial reference point for developing the position of partitions, circulations (staircases), and columns.

Uncover the Existing Envelope

The dragging of curtains inspires the dynamic of the elevation. This forms a symbolic movement of opening the covered volume carefully and gradually, with an atmosphere of dance performance. Technically, the curved wall is achieved by reinforced brickwork with corbeling inside. As illustrated below, the massive cut lit each floor from bottom to top without extra rupture needed on the existing envelope.

Manifesto: Uncover
Manifesto: Uncover the southwest elevation
The Essence Drawing
Movement & Permanent

With the programme given a dance studio serving from inclusive community dance to professional aerial dance, dancers' movement is crucial to this project as they are vulnerable to edges. To analyse the movement of space occupiers, this animation presents activities that happen in my studio as a starting point. The Afflatus session then records the 'path', and the same technique is applied to generate proposals according to the existing urban flow of the site in Dundee.

Movement within Minto House
Movement within Minto House
Technical Section with model overlap
Sectional Strategy

The vertical planning is like a sandwich: the community hall is placed on the ground floor for fire safety concerns, the aerial dance studio is placed on the top floor to reuse the existing trusses, and multi-purpose studios are between them. 

The height of the fly tower is greater than its width and length, so a decision has been made to have a partition floor for changing, storing, and therapy purposes. This floor occupies the heart of the building not only to serve the needs of both upstairs and downstairs but also to insulate sound transmission.

Sectional Strategy
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