Sundsvall Arts Centre and Theatre | Architetto Gaspare Di Maggio

In a classical theater building the movement between the different functions is made horizontally, with the foyer and the other public functions made in the “in-between spaces” and all the technical rooms connected to the different theater-centers put directly next to each function.
Our proposal is to create a theater/center that reinvent this way of “living” in an theater-organism and also reinvent the way people move from one part of the building to one other.
A building made as a Tower of Babylonia.
A high building that has a great visual impact on the city. A city with a strong horizontal profile. That clearly can be seen from every position around the city. It wants to and becomes a CENTER for arts for the city of Sundsvall and for the whole region.
By stacking the functions on top of each other space is liberated on the site. The building is no longer an horizontal obstacle physical and visually to the people of Sundsvall. By lifting all the closed functions, such as the theaters from the ground, we have made possible a horizontal movement right through the building, where the entrance/foyer is situated under the main stage. The entrance of the lorries to the main stage is also on this upper level. Made with a big ramp that indicates the entrance. This two movements (the entrance and the deliveries by lorries) crosses on two levels without ever meeting
The whole building becomes one big tower, a theater-machine.
The vertical movement Is assured with the use of 9 elevators for the public going from the entrance foyer and up to all the functions. From the main entrance-foyer and up to the entrance of the main theatre we have put escalators so that this movement is faster and therefore connects all the first floors up to one big foyer . The foyer with all the different public function move up on different levels, with large ramps and staircases. Every entrance of a public functions such as the theater or the dancehall have an entrance hall on its own level, with view over the city.
The vertical movement of the theater-equipment is assured of by more elevators and by one big elevator 6x4 meters going up to all the theater stages.
The building is thought out as one big organism, a theater-machine. It is our intention that this should be clear. This organism is covered by a glass façade and by an outer skin/structure that defines the object and invites the visitors to come in to the building. This skin goes onto the kulturmagasinet thanks to a big tunnel that links the two entities into one unique art center .
The intention is not to hide the building, but on the other side to become a symbol, a landmark. A tower of light touching the sky.
The materials: a prevalent use of white surfaces in the whole building. The inside of each theater treated with light colored wooden plates, ideal for acoustic reasons, but also “warm” with its detailing and color. The whole organism is covered with a cloth (undergarment) of glass that protects the organism, and gives a good thermal insulation, but that at the same time shows the openness of the building. On the outside of this “glass-cloth” a structure that covers the whole and connects the organism to the ground.