Tag: dance | ArchDaily

Choreographing Lagos: Dele Adeyemo on Dance, Cosmology, and Spatial Practices

Romullo Baratto — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Having thrown a stone today, Eshu kills a bird of yesterday. The Yoruba proverb tells both a story of reparation and of ancestrality by joyfully bending spacetime conventions and accessing subjects from the past with present actions. The saying offers a poetic entry point to broader West African traditions and to the practice of Scottish-Nigerian artist and architect Dele Adeyemo. Named one of the winners of the ArchDaily 2025 Next Practices Awards, Adeyemo's work brings together ecology, spirituality, dance, and territory, examining how embodied cultural practices can generate alternative spatial possibilities within and against the architecture of racial capitalism.

Choreographing Space: Architecture and Dance as Interdisciplinary Practices

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0000

"Dance, dance… otherwise we are lost." This oft-cited phrase by Pina Bausch encapsulates not only the urgency of movement, but its capacity to reveal space itself. In her choreographies, space is never a neutral backdrop, it becomes a partner, an obstacle, a memory. Floors tilt, chairs accumulate, walls oppress or liberate. These are architectural conditions, staged and contested through the body. What Bausch exposes — and what architecture often forgets — is that space is not simply built, it is performed. Her work invites architects to think not only in terms of materials and forms, but of gestures, relations, and rhythms. It suggests that architecture, like dance, is ultimately about how we inhabit, structure, and emotionally charge the spaces we move through.

Why Time Is a Problem for Architects

Duo Dickinson — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 03:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Steven Holl Architects Reveals Design for New Student Performing Arts Center for the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.

Maria-Cristina Florian — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 06:30:00 +0000

The University of Pennsylvania has unveiled Steven Holl Architects’ design for its new Student Performing Arts Center. The 37,300-square-foot building is set to offer dedicated and flexible spaces for over 70 student performing arts groups on campus, including dance, theater arts, a cappella groups, and musical ensembles. The proposal was informed by a study completed in 2019 by Penn’s University Life, which concluded that additional performance and rehearsal space was needed to meet current and future demand. The project is set to begin construction in 2024, with anticipated occupancy starting in winter 2027.

Engaging with Architecture as a Wider Cultural Practice: In Conversation with the Co-Curators of the British Pavilion in Venice

Maria-Cristina Florian — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 07:30:00 +0000

While exploring the 18th International Architecture Exhibition onsite in Venice, ArchDaily had the chance to speak with Jayden Ali and Joseph Henry, two of the co-curators of the British National Pavilion. The exhibition titled “Dancing Before the Moon” was created together with Meneesha Kellay and Sumitra Upham, and features creations from six designers and artists. As the curators explain, the aim of the installations is to expand the general understanding of what architecture is and to integrate it into a wider conversation with fashion, music, art, dance, and performance, rather than separating it as its own class of creativity. On June 20th, a few days after the conversation, the British National Pavilion was awarded a special mention at this year's award ceremony.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro Wins International Competition to Design the New Pina Bausch Center in Wuppertal, Germany

Nour Fakharany — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 05:30:00 +0000

Diller Scofidio + Renfro has won an international competition to design the new Pina Bausch Zentrum in Wuppertal, Germany. Pina Bausch’s legacy as a dancer and choreographer will be celebrated in the design and revitalization of the Tanztheater Wuppertal, as well as in the creation of a new production center. The building will emerge out of the ethos of Pina Bausch, setting an example for a new generation of leadership in the world of choreography.

JKMM's Dance House Helsinki is Designed to Advance the Performing Arts

Lilly Cao — Sun, 15 Sep 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Finnish practice JKMM’s newest project, The Dance House Helsinki, is set to become Finland’s first venue dedicated primarily to dance and the performing arts. Offering rehearsal and performance spaces for artists, Dance House forms an extension to Cable Factory, the largest existing cultural center in Finland.

RCR I International Workshop of Dance

Rene Submissions — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 12:32:00 +0000

Mal Pelo, with the artistic co-direction of Pep Ramis and María Muñoz, is a creative group characterized by shared authorship. Since 1989, Mal Pelo has been developing its own artistic language through the movement, incorporating theatricality with the creation of dramaturgies that include the word, working with composers for the creation of original soundtracks, collaborating with video artists, among others.

The Australian Ballet / HASSELL

Martita Vial della Maggiora — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 17:00:00 +0000

The Australian Ballet is one of the world’s premier ballet companies, it has delivered extraordinary performances for over 50 years and is located in the heart of Melbourne’s Arts Precinct alongside the NGV, Arts centre and Hammer Hall.

Exploring Architecture Through Vertical Dance

Mónica Arellano — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 06:00:00 +0000

What do dance and architecture have in common? It's difficult to explain how our experiences of dance are stored in our bodily memory, but central to our recollection of a performance is the architectural space that it inhabited. Although dance may have been the central focus, the site is integral to its experience. Both disciplines are fundamental when exploring the ways we navigate and create cities and urban spaces.

Body and Space: Videos That Explore Cities and Architecture Through Dance

Mónica Arellano — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 08:00:00 +0000

What is a building that is not inhabited? Is it still architecture? Could we say that we live in a daily choreography where our everyday life is in constant movement with the world around us? Different philosophers and theorists have long addressed the issue that architecture is not simply a set of concrete, steel, and glassware ready to protect its users, but rather all the actions it harbors, all the bodies, and set of breaths and movements. This has been reinforced by different theories that approach the body as an actor of place. However, theories of the body in architecture are not as rare as we might believe. From Ergonomics to Le Corbusier's "Modulor," theorist have sought to understand our relationship with architecture.

AD Classics: Arts United Center / Louis Kahn

Evan Pavka — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 06:00:00 +0000

In 1961, the architect Louis I. Kahn was commissioned by the Fine Arts Foundation to design and develop a large arts complex in central Fort Wayne, Indiana. The ambitious Fine Art Center, now known as the Arts United Center, would cater to the community of 180,000 by providing space for an orchestra, theatre, school, gallery, and much more. As a Lincoln Center in miniature, the developers had hoped to update and upgrade the city through new civic architecture. However, due to budget constraints, only a fraction of the overall scheme was completed. It is one of Kahn’s lesser-known projects that spanned over a decade, and his only building in the Midwest.

Choreographed Performance at Farnsworth House Explores “Queer Space” in the Work of Mies van der Rohe

Leo Shaw — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 10:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published on the blog of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest platform for contemporary architecture in North America. The 2017 Biennial, entitled Make New History, will be free and open to the public between September 16, 2017 and January 6, 2018.