Alexander Petrounine.

Theater of the Everyday

2021


During the covid-19 pandemic, public space has seen its potential to cater for the undefined realized on a world-wide scale. The function of streets squares and markets have subtly transitioned. We no longer meet and sit on the sofa, we meet on the park bench, rather than watch the television, we watch the world go by, rather than put the kettle on, we queue outside the cafe for take-away.

The paradoxical relationship between the domestic and the public is the focus of this intervention, drawing inspiration from both the intimate interactions of the everyday to the theatre and festivity of public events to create a flexible space for the city.

‘The theatre of the everyday’ was designed as a circular colonnade around the chestnut tree, with curtains suspended between each column. The columns are irregularly arranged, creating a more introverted space towards the west whilst making a grander, extroverted space towards the east, opening on to the square. The curtains allow event-organizers and the users of the pavilion to view and use it in various ways. When open; a passage, a stage, or when closed it becomes a place in itself, an enclosed room that allows for a gathering space for picnics or events. The pavilion is built to accommodate. From a singular user, to hundreds at once. With the tree at its center, the radial pavilion branches out to the lampposts of the square, expanding its physical territory beyond its formal boundaries. Re-defining the space of the entire plaza. 

The ‘theatre of the everyday’ is a room, a bench to sit alone and read, or to gossip with friends; a playground for children; a platform for talks and readings; and a stage for performances, concerts. It invites appropriation by any group wishing to stage an event in the city of Logrono. Unveiling the boundaries between the public, communal and private within the city. The pavilion is rethinking temporary contemporary architecture, seeking to reflect on and re-animate the urban environment, and as a fundamental point of reference during the current pandemic.