Environment

Location: Deptford Creek, Southeast London

Building type: Center for Contemporary Dance

Design team: Herzog & de Meuron, London associates

The Laban Dance Centre has been designed as a public building and very much open to everyone. It will be faithful by all dance students from all level from the world. The environment is quite an open and quiet area with residential buildings surrounding by.

The diagram below shows the plan of the Laban Dance Centre.

1. Laban dance centre building

2. Access service

3.Entrance

Landscape research

Sunlight pass through the windows into the building, to provide enough lighting inside. 

DETAIL

Laban Dance Centre is a very special building, it's different every second. The enviroment and all the surroundings are part of the building.

The building is part of the enviroment, and the enviroment is part of the building.
The reflection on the glass-window become the appearance of the building.

The green area shows the reflective area.
It's like a big mirrow, combining the nature landscape and whole enviroment with the building itself, combining the pysical structure and mental romantic, just like dance, human's pysical body with the mentally  movements.

people is part of the enviroment, they can see themselves both infront of the building , also standing in the nature, under the blue sky.

The way of communication between the building and enviroment it's very romantic and artistic, relating to the theme: dance art.

Surroundings

Collage

                                                                                   landscape

                                                                              main entrance

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

                                                                                    canal side

Sound Recording in surrounding area

 Front Door

Laban Garden

Carpark

The Ferranti Park

Activities

Laban Garden

The Folding Landscape for Laban Center was designed  by landscape architect Stephen Schraemmli from Zurich.

The two spiral-shaped connected to become places where they met. Three planted yards are cut in at different depths,this allows them to provide daylight to the interior and enable visual connections and spatial throughout the building.

Lindum Grassfelt, is a type of living grass grown on a biodegradable felt base, was used for dramatic effect on the angular sculptured landscape surrounding the Laban Dance Centre.

                                

The Plan

The Brown roof / Eco-roof

Not only the Laban garden create an environmentally friendly area for the Laban centre. The "Brown roof" (Eco-roof) is also an important feature of the building. The roof is made of local materials, crushed brick and concrete, it allows plants to grow. The roof have positive impact on the environment and nature, especially benefit for black redstarts, small bright birds which are now rare to be seen in london or the UK. For the Laban's point of view, as they are aiming for health, the environment around the creekside is in concerned, and that it had a chain reaction with other new buildings in the area.            

The Ferranti Park

The Ferranti Park is situated opposite the Laban dance centre, it provides an comfortable open space and has been a nature place where local residents go often looking for green space in an urban environment. The park is also being plan for educational groups visting by the council.