Inside the Shell
Performance — Act IV
ACT IV
SCENE 1
ACT IV
SCENE 2
GENERATOR: BUOYANCY
The space separating, more precisely, lifting the Big Box from the ground is a space that engages art and cultural events in the city. Paved by greeneries at the interior, the space is a micro-oasis in the heart of Centretown Ottawa regardless of the exterior weather. Artists will occasionally drop by, asking the possibilities to exhibit their works or to perform an abstract musical composition among the thriving botanical species overtaking the Blank Space. Here, the creative inspirations of human activities coexist with the illusive natural phenomena recreated by the gardeners of the Blank Space Gallery.
The Buoyancy Generator, advertised as the Blank Space Gallery, is now an artificially constructed nature, a quick-fix forest trail to suit your necessary procrastination — like how you would blow up your airbed for your guest right when they need a place to sleep.
ACT IV
SCENE 2.5
GENERATOR: REGENERATOR
The botanical garden is not bounded inside the limitation of the Buoyancy Generator, it is intentionally made to trespass into the public spaces of the city and manifest itself as a comfortable seating area for an open-air cinema on one of the summer night.
In the winter, the space generously accepts all the snow from the parking lot right adjacent to it, somehow resembling a micro imagery of the Austrian Alps where one would imagine a skier descending down with invisible wings.
ACT IV
SCENE 3
UNDERWATER
Underwater is a basement venue for the occasional swimmers.
The basement was originally excavated in 1936 to serve the function of a dance salon: a space dedicated to entertainment and relaxed gathering. It was exposed to the sky as the building collapsed during the accident in 2007, however restored thanks to the team of robots and drones. 16 metres in width, the spacious basement is definitely capable of housing a scene unseen. To borrow from the former bar setting, the underground is not only a new nook for the community to spend their leisure hours, it is also a new venue for sound and visual brought by the artists inhabiting in the city. To entre, from the back of Somerset House through the narrow stairs tucked away from being seen, the seemingly dark and unwelcoming basement reveals its own charm as one approach to the space: sometimes a swimming pool but sometimes not.
The Underwater is so versatile that the space will come to you, please do not let it pass you by. It is at 352 Somerset Street, but the entrance is only from the back: a space tucked away like that airbed for your unexpected guest.
Next >> Does Architecture Dream of Upheaval? Performance — Act V
