Coronaproof grandstand
bubbles with AFIX scaffolding
OCTOBER 2020
GHENT- De Centrale is a cultural centre in the heart of Ghent (Belgium). Corona has had a major impact on the functioning of the house and the planned performances. De Centrale engaged architect Jan De Keyser and AFIX Group to build a public-friendly and Corona safe grandstand.
De Centrale has something that many other houses lack, especially "free height" (23 m to the ridge). The auditorium also has a high-performance air ventilation system, connected to outside air. Architect Jan De Keyser designed compartmentalised lodges with system scaffolding allowing corona-robbing activities to be organised for 200 people.
This installation enables De Centrale to more or less continue its own operation in corona times.
BRAND NEW CONCEPT
- The concept base is the so-called bubbles suitable for up to 4 people. This theatre with bubbles is not a novelty but has its origins in the Italian lodge theatre, with the lodges in mostly horseshoe shape on top of each other and a 'parterre'. Also in the Shakespearean theatre, compartments were placed in a circular shape around an inner courtyard with a scene (the "Globe theatre" can still be visited in London). More recently experimental variants can be seen in Mad Max 3 with the "Thunderdome" and in the official music video "Thunderstruck" by the band AC/DC.
- Here the lodges are suitable as building blocks in a U-shape (4+5+4) and stacked in 4 building layers. Thus the total (4+5+4=) is 13 lodges/layer x 4 levels = 52 lodges à max. 4 pers. = 208 pers. If the current scene is used, the ground floor will once again remain free for individual places.
- The structure is erected in the modular Afix system scaffold. The basic unit is therefore a lodge with dimensions (0.75 + 2.05 =) 2.80m. x 1.10m. x 2.00m. (length x width x height). In the box, a so-called 'platform' can be placed on consoles as a bench. The lodges are accessible via a rear corridor, also with a width of 1.10m.
- The circulation and accessibility to and from the boxes is specifically adapted to the situation of the Turbine room with a 'slow' filling in of the audience via a split-level staircase and a 'fast emptying' via 2 staircases with connecting exits, without crossing.