Light-weighted, 1700 seat Rock star arena is project developed in SCI-Arc studio in Los Angeles and is exhibition finalist at Land of Tomorrow. Designed by student Donovan Ballantyne, the Ball auditorium is rethinking classical geodesic dome, adding more dramatic and provocative layers to Fuller’s original.
Being an adored engineers’ utopia, perfect in its simplicity and structural efficiency, the dome was reinvestigated and redesigned into something messier, frightening and more alive. The author tried to misconstrue the face of a dome by amplifying the tessellation and porosity while maintaining the geometry. Bringing dept of the skin and discontinuity to a typology that has always been about surface and continuity has resulted with new model provoking ambivalent feelings and opinions about this monstrous beauty.
Vivid coral skin is active, performing both as an urban speaker leaking the sound from inside out, and as a polyp chamber bringing city noises into the hall. Resurrecting the tradition, the author makes a clear cut combining organic dirt and high tech perfection. Organic structure was rendered differently, translated into usable space.
Photo credit: http://www.suckerpunch.com
architectureandliving 