House of Theaters

Core II | Spring 2024 MIT Architecture

Instructors: Cristina Parreño Alonso, Jaffer Kolb, Rafi Segal

Year: 2023

This is about a series of different types and scales of theaters and galleries within the boundary of Strand Theaters in Dorchester City. The aim is to reimagine the existing building conditions features by integrating various types of theaters and galleries while preserving the traces and palimpsest of the original building. The main decision was to convert this building into a cultural space that includes a variety of programs. The orientation and dimensions of the existing walls create an irregular grid, which gradually diminishes as one moves downwards and leftwards. This grid creates the potential for large, medium, and small cells, forming different spaces.

Each floor features a circular element that disrupts the rigidity of the rectangular grid, adding dynamic spatial interest. The roof retains the grid pattern from the ground floor, with skylights designed to allow natural light to penetrate the interior. This design also makes the grid visible from above, similar to how windows function in a facade, allowing people to use this semi-open space, walk, and see inside through the apertures. The form of the roof results from analyzing the typology of local house roofs, interpreting each part as a surface that is then deconstructed and incorporated into the open envelope, creating the grid through the apertures like the roof.