The Clearing, Theaterformen

TYPE: Intervention

YEAR: 2022

LOCATION: Braunschweig

Photo of people sitting on table and chairs talking, surrounded by a brightly coloured tent intervention with lots of bright lights - part of ‘The Clearing’ by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project.

At the end of 2021 Festival Theatreformen asked The DisOrdinary Architecture Project to design a temporary pavilion for their music and performance festival the following June. To kick off the project, The DisOrdinary Architecture Project team organised a participatory workshop on the site - Herzogin Anna Amalia Platz in Brauschweig - which brought together a series of deaf and disabled artists from the UK and Germany, sharing stories and creative ideas about what works and what doesn’t work in terms of diverse access needs. Richard Dougherty, a Deaf architect, led on the design supported by Deaf architectural consultant Chris Laing and Zoe Partington and Jos Boys from The DisOrdinary Architecture Project.

The project starts from concepts of Deaf Gain and DeafSpace – which explores the rich performative and spatial qualities of using sign language. The pavilion took on circular form, expressing the social shape-making inherent to signing, where people form circles to easily see and communicate with each other. The pavilion became a double circle, with the centre section, called ‘The Clearing’, open to the sky, surrounded by a band of covered seating and framed by the fluidity of string curtains.

The form of this project then generated a number of other 'clearings' in the Plaza, such as:

  • Lamp-post pedestals, which were adapted to be able to hold drinks and other items, as well as being more ensiler able to allow for people to lean against them for a moment of rest

  • Bike-racks, which were converted into seats to shift support from mobile cyclists to less mobile members of the community)

  • Seats, which were transformed from existing uncomfortable concrete benches to a variety of different seating options

  • Floor vinyl posters, which helped ameliorate the difficulties of wheelchair users of cobbled surfaces.

The ultimate aim was to offer a range of places and adapted elements to accommodate a diverse range of inhabitants, supporting our many different ways of being in the world.

You can hear from some of those involved in the Clearing by watching the video below.

Gallery

Photo of people sitting on some orange seating which has been put on top of a concrete bench - part of The Clearing by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project
Photo of two people sitting on an orange seating intervention and smiling - part of The Clearing by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project
Photo looking down on the hole in the top of a blue tent, revealing people having a colourful party inside - part of The Clearing by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project
Photo of a blue tent at nighttime with ribbons making up all four walls. Through the ribbons you can see people having a party inside - part of The Clearing by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project
Photo of a blue tent during the day, with ribbons making up all four walls. Through the ribbons you can see people having a party inside - part of The Clearing by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project
Photo of the inside of a tent at nighttime with ribbons making up all four walls and bright coloured lighting lighting up the tent. Through the ribbons you can see people having a party inside - part of The Clearing by The DisOrdinary Architecture Pr
Photo of people having a silent disco, surround by colour ribbons - part of The Clearing by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project
Photo of people sitting outside on table and chairs talking, in the background is a brightly coloured tent intervention with lots of bright lights - part of ‘The Clearing’ by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project.
Photo looking down on the hole in the top of a blue tent, revealing people resting on beanbags inside - part of The Clearing by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project
Photo looking down on the hole in the top of a blue tent, surrounded by a series of table and chairs - part of The Clearing by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project

Related Projects

Photo of brightly coloured playground style installation, with two people sitting on a seating element of the installation, looking up at the connected tubes containing multiple coloured objects. In the background is a shopping street.

Useful links

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