THEATRE FOR ONE
Client: Christine Jones
Type: Performing Arts
Size: 30 SF
Design: 2008
Exhibited: Princeton University, Julliard School of Music, NYIT, Times Square
Photography: Danny Bright
Conceived by theater set designer Christine Jones and developed in its architecture form by LOT-EK, Theater for One is a theater for one actor and one audience member. Inspired by small one-to-one spaces - such as the confessional or the sex peep-booth - Theater for One explores the intense emotion of live theater through the direct and intimate one-to-one interaction of actor and audience.
Theater for One uses the ‘road-box’ technology to configure a system where connected and detachable units form the theater black box, allowing for continuous transformability, interchangeability and expansion. The audience sitting area, referencing the iconography of baroque theaters and opera houses, is lined with red padded velvet and incorporates a peep-booth chair with stereo speakers and pay buttons. The actor unit is left raw to be transformed according to the play. Its background is a flexible plug-in system where different sets can be exchanged depending on the play requirements. A small plug-in box at the top holds lights and special effects, including rain and snow.
To see a video of this project in action, please visit us on Vimeo.
THEATRE FOR ONE v2
Conceived by theater set designer Christine Jones and developed in its architecture form by LOT-EK, Theater for One is a theater for one actor and one audience member. Inspired by small one-to-one spaces - such as the confessional or the sex peep-booth - Theater for One explores the intense emotion of live theater through the direct and intimate one-to-one interaction of actor and audience.
Theater for One uses the ‘road-box’ technology to configure a system where connected and detachable units form the theater black box, allowing for continuous transformability, interchangeability and expansion.
In this second iteration, developed for higher flexibility of movement and for full ADA accessibility, three boxes form the main volume – one for the Performer, one for the Audience(r), and one to hold the shutters that divides the two opposite spaces. The two separate entrances for actor and audience are positioned on opposite sides. A hard shatter pulls out at the start of the play to connect the two spaces and to announce, on the outside, that the theater is active, together with a red-light bulb at the top of the structure that signals that the play is on.
The audience sitting area, referencing the iconography of baroque theaters and opera houses, is lined with red acoustic foam and incorporates a vintage red velvet theatre chair on a turntable.
The performer space can be transformed according to the play, and includes a small plug-in box at the top for lights and special effects.
DIM MOBILE RETAIL UNIT
Client: Sara Lee Corp / DIM
Type: Mobile Retail
Location: Anywhere
Size: 1,000 SF
Design: 2006
Interactive Technology: Inbar Barak
Photography: LOT-EK + Inbar Barak
A 53-foot long truck triples in size and opens with the push of a button to both sides. The mechanism of the folding floor dictated the distribution of program to stationary areas that follow the logic of the folding and unfolding of the truck. All clothing stacks, accessory drawers, fitting rooms and lounge seats pull out of the central container. The clothing display is reduced onto a thin layer of flat-screen monitors, creating an infrastructure for the rapid bi-weekly update of merchandise. The technological and mechanical environments demanded the interactivity that runs throughout the elements: The fitting rooms collapse to the ceiling to provide valuable space when not in use, and allow the folding of the pods; The cash register is a portable hand-held machine (new at the time!); The stack drawer monitors show a video display of its content when pulled open; Portraits of consumers from each retail location are collected to create a community; Reflective surfaces on the interior enhance the constantly animated display; The reflective surfaces of the exterior, makes this object contextual leaving the inside/outside connection filtered through the brand’s logo, which wraps around the object.
PUMA CITY
Client: PUMA
Type: Mixed-use (Event Space, Retail, Office, Leisure/Bar)
Location: Multiple Global Ports
Size: 11,000 SF
Design: 2008
Structure: Silman
Mechanical/Sustainability: Rosini Engineering
Photography: Danny Bright
AWARDS:
2009 International Architecture Awards - The Chicago Athenaeum Museum
2009 I.D. Magazine, Honorable Mention for Best Environments
2009 Travel + Leisure Design Award - Best Retail
Twenty-four shipping containers are retrofitted and transformed into PUMA City, a transportable retail and event building. The building was assembled and disassembled a number of times at several different international ports. PUMA City is conceived as a three level stack of containers, shifted to create internal outdoor spaces, large overhangs and terraces. The structure is comprised of two full retail spaces on the lower levels, both designed with large double height celings and 4-container-wide open spaces – as a counterpoint to the modular box-quality of the container inner space. The second level houses offices, press area and storage, while a bar, lounge and event space with a large open terrace is placed at the top. The building uses 40-foot long shipping containers as well as a number of the existing container connectors to join and secure containers both horizontally and vertically. Each module is designed to ship as conventional cargo container through a system of structural covering panels that fully seals all of its large openings to be removed on site to re-connect the large, open interior spaces. At 11,000 square feet of space, it is the first container building of its scale to be truly mobile.
VIDEOS:
To see a time-lapse video of this project being assembled, please visit the LOT-EK page on Vimeo.