CIRCO-STANZE, a circus school, Blackfriars Road, London
All buildings are in essence a combination of two elements: different types of solid and different types of void. When these two elements are set in strong contrast, as in the site’s brick railway arches, the Colosseum in Rome or Rafael Moneo’s Murcia town hall, the architecture has a strange power.
My circus school takes you on a journey, from street facade to rear, and from basement to roof, where the degree of “solidness” subsides in meeting the different demands of the varied programme. The voids, or spaces, that are so formed define the experience of the building for the circus performers, staff and visitors.
