Raval Circus

The Raval is a different neighbourhood from the rest of the city. It's a harbour area, and half of its inhabitants are foreigners. Most of the facilities are meant for tourists while there are very few that are dedicated to making a better living for the locals. This project focuses on coexistence and the exchange of cultural traditions between residents.

The project proposes a different point of view, creating a facility to be used by the people living in the area. It tries to help these people and involve the social mass in the project. Considering the great variety of cultures and traditions concentrated in this part of Barcelona, the proposal is to create the "Raval Circus". A group of facilities where circus activities take place, but also for neighbourhood meetings where skills and cultural traditions can be shared. Instead of removing mass in order to create new facilities, this project explores the possibility of using the pre-existing mass and overlaying the intervention with lightweight constructions. Three scenarios are repeated throughout the neighbourhood. The first is the urban plots that have been left empty. The second is a consequence of the first, the huge party walls that are left exposed. The third is the urban block's inner open area, which are big spaces with wasted use. With the intention of giving a response to these three scenarios, the project is made up of three main elements: walkways, pavilions and spatial structures. A 4-metre-high walkway runs across the urban block’s interiors, attaching itself to the party walls and adapting to the irregular structure of the neighbourhood. Four buildings are placed along this path in the empty urban plots and block’s interiors: two training facilities, a circus school, and a theatre. These buildings are accompanied by spatial structures formed by scaffolding for outdoor activities. The contemporary circus brings together a variety of disciplines in the same performance, such as dancing, interpreting, and playing live music. The stage is versatile, not only in its dimensions but also in the "atrezzo" needed for the performance. From lifting platforms to stages with trap doors and motorized poles. The project adapts to these needs by having diaphanous interior spaces in its buildings, high ceilings, and steel structures to enable the assembly of spotlights, ropes, rods, or curtains.