STARring
Project: STARring - Temporary Cinema
Typology: Concorso di idee - AC-CA International Architecture Competition - [Dakar] Temporary Cinema
Site: Dakar, Senegal
Year: 2015
Result: Honorable Mention
The project is inspired by a movie set that can be fit together everywhere in a short time. A Surface, composed by 145 square panels held together by special knuckle joints (made by textile strips) that allows a 360° rotation of each of the elements, ripples and droops for determining a 5500 m3 space that, once folded, shrinks to 78 m3, transportable on a trailer truck.
The panels are composed by a wooden frame and two woody layers, made of recycled axes of disused piraguas, typical Senegalese boats, usually realized in kapok (Ceiba Pentandra): a very light wood (density: 0,1-0,4 g/cm3) that allows to compose an easily transportable platform. The Senegalese piraguas are famous all over the world for the beautiful drawings made by fishermen. All the panels of the Surface are made out of these boats, retrieved and assembled in collaboration with local craftsmen. The panels are constructed out of two layers. The top layer contains the pieces needed in order to put together the furniture for the auditorium, the waiting area and the café area. These pieces are carved by CNC system, to get a definite facilitating the assembly. This project combines craftsmanship and modern technologies, global knowledge and local resources.
Depending on the needs, the furniture can be either partially or fully set up. Every item can be assembled and disassembled several times. Once the furniture is set, the colored zones of the auditorium’s seating area become visible.
A coverage of hanging wires (textile fibres obtained from kapok plant) hovers above the floor, illuminated by the LED stripes located all along the perimeter. Whole building shines as if it was a star in the dark of the night.