Community Centre-Workshop

The BEEPART creative workshop is a private initiative with an aim of activating the cultural and communal life in the dormitory areas. It fulfils the function of a cultural spot in Pilait? district, which has no such facilities at all and is a venue for the activities of various age groups, film reviews, community gatherings, courses and seminars, ect.

The requirements for the building were quite controversial: A cheap temporary structure (permission for exploitation on the state land is issued for 2 years only, and to be financed by a private person), but expressive in style, warm, spacious and innovative. Thus we had an idea to use sea containers: when the permit of exploitation expires, the containers may be disassembled and transferred somewhere else, leaving the interior decoration, electricity, ventilation etc. intact. In order to gain more area, two big containers (13.7 x 2.5 x 2.9 m) were mounted on top of a small container, creating a wide terrace on the ground floor, while the upper level & the heated part of the building is protected, at least partially, from possible vandalism.

The containers are insulated with straw briquettes & an organic and cheap material, whereas for the facades PVC-coated fabrics was used. Such a facade solution is easy to implement and maintain, and is cheap; in addition, at night colour changing LED lights, hidden under the awning, create an effect of a 'glowing coloured object'. The rain water is collected from a green roof; there is a compost toilet; the building is heated by burning wood and paper waste from creative workshops. The building has no site, and it s floor area is 80m².