Memphis. A ballet company’s venue as an uplifting community space

archimania built a large civic-oriented facility fostering the revitalisation of a performing-arts district.

The Memphis-based office archimania designed a new building for Ballet Memphis, a company that had outgrown its spaces. In this occasion, the organisation moved from the outskirts of the US city to a central performing-arts district in the process revitalisation.

Breaking down the scale of the structure – which square footage amounts to more than 4,000 sqm – has been a necessity for the office, which interpretation of the mission of the company gave priority to the shaping of its public presence as an inclusive space. For this reason, the design features a series of spaces open to the public: courtyards, public interiors and perforated screens as road buffers, all aiming to foster the participation of the local community in the activities of the organisation. These areas also include retails, a café, and a costume shop. The core of the program consists of rehearsal spaces for the professional company, a dance school for over 200 children, a performance venue, community dance and pilates classes. Thanks to its design, the new building for Ballet Memphis participates to the revitalisation of the district.