160 Laban Dance Centre – Herzog & de Meuron

Competition: 1997
Project: 1998-1999
Realization: 2000-2003

Deptford’s St.Paul’s Church becomes an important point of reference for the new complex. The large, embracing gesture of the Laban building volume gives the effect of creating a spatial limitation as well as a melting together of Laban Garden and Laban Centre. The topographically shaped structure of the garden – simultaneously serving as an entrance yard for the Laban Centre and a place for walking, playing or leisure – finds corresponding qualities in the interior gestalt of the building.

All activities are intermixed and distributed on only two main levels. This promotes communication within the entire building. The large theater, the heart of the Laban organism, is located in the center of the building: the orientation point in the open “cityscape” of the first floor. The library, cafeteria and also parts of the production facilities and the administration are, through the use of transparent and translucent walls, to be structured rather than separated. The upper story houses most of the studios creating a dense fabric, like that of an urban center where each studio has a different size, height, form and color.

The two spiral-shaped connecting stairways are laid out generously enough to become places for encounters. Two planted yards are cut in at different depths; they provide daylight to the interior and enable visual connections and a spatial orientation throughout the entire building. They mark the locations where the stairways access the main stories and the planted roof area.

Colors determine the rhythm and orientation both inside and outside the building. Because we wanted to give color such an importance for the entire piece of architecture we decided to collaborate with an artist who should bring in his specific thinking and expertise. In previous projects we’ve had interesting collaborations with Rémy Zaugg for the Roche Pharma-Research Building in Basel, and with Adrian Schiess for the Extension of the Head Office for Helvetia Patria in St. Gallen, Switzerland. For Laban we contacted Michael Craig-Martin, whose work we got to know and admire over the last few years, also because his approach to color seemed so different to our previous experience.

The exterior façades consist of transparent or translucent glass panels, depending on whether the space behind them requires a view. Colored, transparent polycarbonate panels are mounted in front of the glass panels and serve as a protective shield (against sun, glare, and heat radiation) and contribute to the overall energy system. The shadow images of the dancers, which will fall onto the matte glass surfaces of the interior walls and façades, have a magical effect and play an active part of the Laban’s architectural identity.

Herzog & de Meuron, 2003

Process

The new Laban Dance Centre is located in Deptford, South East London.

In an area otherwise lacking architectural cohesion, Herzog & de Meuron have created a gesture of embrace that opens up towards the baroque church of St.Paul’s, 300m away. Inside the curved buildings, the rooms are arranged to form a topography.

Studying a 1:2 model of the shell of the building with Michael Craig-Martin.

Foyer, cafe and offices on the ground floor and thirteen dance studios on the upper floor are grouped around the off-center auditorium like a little town.

The Laban is built on a former landfill site beside a tributary of the Thames.

The shimmering building acts as a focal point in a deprived area.

The park and cafe are public meeting places. The color scheme in the foyer and the corridors has been designed by Michael Craig-Martin; the auditorium is black; the studios are each different in shape.

Drawings

Team

Partners: Jacques Herzog; Pierre de Meuron; Harry Gugger; Christine Binswanger (Competition Phase)
Competition: Konstanze Beelitz; Maria Rita Vieira Pereira Diniz; Detlef Horisberger
Project: Michael Casey (Associate, Project Architect); Jean Paul Jaccaud (Project Architect); Jayne Barlow; Nandita B. Boger; Fun Budimann; Peter Cookson; Irina Davidovici; Hernan Fierro Castro; Alice Foxley; Christoph Mauz; Christopher Nicholas Pannett; Kristen Whittle

Facts

In Collaboration With: Michael Craig-Martin, London, UK (a wall painting by the artist has been commissioned for the buildings’ main concourse, the colors at the building – in and outside - have been defined in collaboration with Michael Craig-Martin)
Client: Laban Centre, London, UK
Planning: Lead Design Architect: Herzog de Meuron, Basel, Switzerland; Project Management: Arup Project Management, London, UK; MEP Engineering: Whitby Bird & Partners, London, UK; HVAC Engineering: Waldhauser Haustechnik AG, Basel, Switzerland; Structural Engineering: Whitby Bird & Partners, London, UK; Landscape Design: Vogt Landscape Architects, Zurich, Switzerland; Landscape Design: Whitby Bird & Partners, London, UK; General Contractor: Ballast Construction, London, UK
Specialist / Consulting: Facade Consulting: Emmer Pfenniger Partner AG, Münchenstein, Switzerland; Facade Consulting: Rodeca, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany; Acoustic Consulting: Arup Acoustics, Winchester, UK; Theater Consulting: Carr & Angier, Bath, UK; Specifications Consulting: Schumann Smith, Manchester, UK; IT Consulting: Arup Communications, London, UK
Building Data: Gross floor area (GFA): 88'296 sqft, 8'203 sqm; Length: 262 ft, 80 m; Width: 131 ft, 40 m; Height: 45 ft, 14 m
Links: www.trinitylaban.ac.uk

Bibliography

Gerhard Mack, Herzog & de Meuron: “Herzog & de Meuron 1997-2001. The Complete Works. Volume 4.” Edited by: Gerhard Mack. Basel / Boston / Berlin, Birkhäuser, 2008. Vol. No. 4.

Luis Fernández-Galiano (Ed.): “Arquitectura Viva. Herzog & de Meuron 1978-2007.” 2nd rev. ed. Madrid, Arquitectura Viva, 2007.

Nobuyuki Yoshida (Ed.): “Architecture and Urbanism. Herzog & de Meuron 2002-2006.” Tokyo, A+U Publishing Co., Ltd., 08.2006.

Fernando Márquez Cecilia, Richard Levene (Eds.): “El Croquis. Herzog & de Meuron 2002-2006. Monumento e Intimidad. The Monumental and the Intimate.” Vol. No. 129/130, Madrid, El Croquis, 2006.

Hubertus Adam: “Strategie. Durch Ergänzung Kontext prägen. Laban Dance Center in Deptford, London.” In: Felix Zwoch (Ed.). “Bauwelt.” Vol. No. 14, Gütersloh, Bertelsmann Springer Bauverlag GmbH, 11.04.2003. pp. 26-31.

Laban Centre in London. In: Christian Schittich (Ed.). “Detail. Zeitschrift für Architektur und Baudetail. Fassade, Aussenwand.” Vol. No. 7/8, Munich, Institut für internationale Architektur-Dokumentation GmbH & Co., 07.2003. pp. 791-797.

Fernando Márquez Cecilia, Richard Levene (Eds.): “El Croquis. Herzog & de Meuron 1998-2002. La Naturaleza del Artificio. The Nature of Artifice.” Vol. No. 109/110, Madrid, El Croquis, 2002.

“Herzog & de Meuron. Natural History.” Edited by: Philip Ursprung. Exh. Cat. “Herzog & de Meuron. Archaeology of the Mind.” Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. 23 October 2002 – 6 April 2003. 2nd ed. Baden, Lars Müller, 2005.

“Herzog & de Meuron. Naturgeschichte.” Edited by: Philip Ursprung. Exh. Cat. “Herzog & de Meuron. Archaeology of the Mind.” Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. 23 October 2002 – 6 April 2003. 2nd ed. Baden, Lars Müller, 2005.

“Herzog & de Meuron. Histoire Naturelle.” Edited by: Philip Ursprung. Exh. Cat. “Herzog & de Meuron. Archaeology of the Mind.” Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. 23 October 2002 – 6 April 2003. Baden, Lars Müller, 2002.