Sports & Arts School

Sports & Arts school is a combination of two areas that mostly describe Chicago in my opinion, and those are sports and art; Inspiration came from an old Czechoslovak sports and arts school, whose students were mostly artists who worked on improving their physical predispositions, and when they finish this school, they come out, as they say, as a "complete" artist.

When I was thinking about defining the users of this school, something that was closest to the Czechoslovak school were the actors. Today, the acting world strives to reduce the workload of the stuntman, and for the actor to be able to participate in all the scenes that the stuntman would otherwise perform instead of him. Therefore, this school would offer the possibility of improving physical abilities and predispositions of actors, mostly in the form of exercises that involve the existence of cables (something like acrobatic and circus training), fencing, then swimming / skating, etc. So, this school would be an important educational institution, as well as a kind of attraction for residents and visitors, which would be pleasant and refreshing as such in this area of Chicago. Since the task is to design an Art Garden using senses as the main tools, it was necessary to explore how sensuality is achieved in one project. Sensuality in this project is reflected in the gesture of taking / borrowing features from different cultures (mostly European) and then implement the acquired knowledge on our plot. I think the key lies in forming a space that is not familiar to people, that is not close to them, established, like much of Chicago's architecture, but offers them something new, unknown, something that will ignite feelings, something they may not like because they are used to a certain rhythm, certain tempo, certain style. The task of this school is exactly that, not to try to please, but to challenge in users, passers-by, participants ... something.

Inspiration for the formation and shaping of the base was supported by the fact that the inhabitants of Chicago are great fans of sports, which reminded me a little of the Italian spirit and architecture, specifically the Roman Colosseum. I thought that the ambience that the Colosseum creates with its imposing auditorium and centrally located arena, would be pleasing one context such as our location. Tall buildings, plains, modernism, glass, steel are just some of the key words that could describe the context in which our Art Garden should be. It is rough to say, but that is what happened in my project: the implementation of the example of the Colosseum on our location, of course with the correction of certain things to suit our task and desires. This correction implies shaping the base like the shape of plasma instead of the ellipse, as is the case with the real Colosseum, due to the elongation of our plot. Functions: at elevation -3.00 locker room accommodation, at elevation 0.00 access to the auditorium, but also access to the upper floors, at elevation +3.00 accommodation of study rooms, administration, cafes, +6.00 gallery space, +9.00 roof garden.

Also an important part of the project, in addition to the Colosseum motive, is the introduction of cables and hanging structures. And because of the mentoined stories about the users of this space, the cables are in fact a space for certain performances and trainings of various acrobats, stuntmen, artists or it could be an opportunity for people to get rid of the fear of heights. Function of the hanging structure is double - it is primarily safety and then because of the desire to add another function, I decided that the net can also be a space through which visitors or users can move and experience space from new perspectives.