Marcel Palm

Location

Cheratte-Bas, once a place of industrial development, has greatly suffered from the closing of the coal mines. Many houses are unoccupied, there are only a few businesses and shops and people have to travel to other towns to obtain the necessary everyday things of life.

It is essential now to give this town a new function, a new driving force.

Function

Because the town is situated at the junction of important cities such as Aachen, Liège and Maastricht, it is obvious to seek this new “driving force” at a Euregional level, so as to reinforce and foster the regional and international connections.

Dance and Theatre

Dance means movement, rhythm, giving free rein to the body. The spoken language is unimportant: the only language that counts is body language.

Dance allows us to express something that we cannot say with words. Thus, people of different nations can get together to speak one and the same language.

In the theatre too, gestures and facial expressions play a major role and although verbal speech is of major significance, visual information is enormously important for understanding a stage play.

An academy of dance and theatre can thus lead to Euregional ties irrespective of the language.

Le „Charbonnage“

As the future location of an academy of dance and theatre, there is the precise location that was the centre of activities a few decades ago: the coal mine „Le Hasard“. The imposing buildings from various eras are arranged around a central concrete slab and as such form an inner courtyard. The exceptional dimensions and the architecture from different periods create a multitude of rooms and spaces of great character. Some of them are ideal for an art form where décor and scenery play such a large role. Audience and artists alike find themselves centre stage.

Contrast

The original closed shape of the „Charbonnage“ should not only be kept, but its effect should be increased. As in the medieval town, the internal/external emotional factor is summoned up to a maximum.

The entrance area is receded and is easy to recognise - in contrast to the closed façades.

There is an atrium in the centre of the complex with a glass roof that presents an impressive view of the last tower constructed.

My aim for this project is not to create something entirely new, but to reinforce the existing perceptions of spaces. This location is too good to be changed to such an extent that it would no longer be recognisable.

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