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What is SCHUNCK?
Cultural institutions such as SCHUNCK in Heerlen are ideally spaces for debate reflecting and presenting social problems and positions. Different formats and changing programs unfoald in a process which requires to stage and reconsider standpoints frequently - the above claim refers to this. The potential of a cultural platform relating to urban reality and public conditions is a substantial openness challanging normative
outines. Conflicts and complications are a lively and integral part of SCHUNCK’s everyday business.
Architecture as a question
To announce its potential opennes SCHUNCK has altered its logotype by adding an asterisk. This note attests SCHUNCK’s interest in open questions. Regarding the need for a SCHUNCK* pavilion this claim should be at the base of its architecture. It implies to understand space as a reflection of social relations and to define SCHUNCK’s new nomadic space not by functional assignments but rather to create an adptable environment for diverse situations. As an almost literal translation of the asterisk the proposed pentagonal form works in space as the former does in type. The new SCHUNCK pavilion pushes the technical limitations of the competition’s brief by offering a space of negotiation
relating to specific context, alternating program and locality.
Discursive space
The pentagon always leaves things incomplete. It is disturbing and refuses the harmony or formally naive options of other regular geometries. Just as it is impossible to partition a space with a pentagonal grid or structure, there will always be spaces and questions left over asking for something complementary. The panoptical SCHUNCK pavilion does not define its relevance and limits by the requested abstract dimension of 100 sqm or any other supposed universal size. It is scaled to welcome social events, performance and exchange. The spatial relation as a social relation is the base for its design. It is small and provides a comfortable space, where people can sit, talk and dance in circles. It is a conflictious space open for negotiation and appropriation.
Spatial structure
A simple ring of five rigid steel frames circumscribes an interior space of about 40 sqm. Bracing the pavilion it is constructively joined with the cased light roof at the height of 300 cm in the clear. A space frame pedestal at the height of 30 cm above the given ground can be covered with wood or metal panels according to the intended event. If needed the steel frames can be easily subdivided by additional posts and cladded by different materials like wooden or gypsum wall boards, steel, glas or polycarbonate panels.
A handrail devides the space into a circumferential colonnade and an inner zone. It defines a boundary, reflecting and questioning the formats of discussions, workshops, performances and exhibitions. It could function as a barrier between a lecturer, a performer and the audience and furthermore allows to be comfortably used as a support to lean or sit on while gathering or watching.
The pavilion can be installed for indoor and outdoor use, serving as a central stage or node for performances and exhibitions. As a space with an elaborate threshold it allows for multiple relations to any environment. A multi-coloured rain- and windproof curtain secures the space when it is not in use or separates inside from outside activities.
If not used for social interaction only, the temporary SCHUNCK pavilion provides from 40 to 120 meters of possible vertical surface ready to be covered by rows of exhibition panels, to be used as screens or e.g. mirrored walls.
