ragdale dance studio
Ragdale Dance studio is part of an artist resident community in Lake Forest Illinois. The site lies between a grand estate and a vast, beautiful prairie space. The studio itself needed to act as a gateway to the prairie, which was legally untouchable. The program called for a dance space and small residence.
The studio’s intention is to create a contemplative space. The dancers are here to study their work and need a space that will leave an impression and create unique and memorable experience. The studio is a spectrum of adjustability to cater to the versatility of modern dance. The overall design makes the building seem like it could be dancing while providing a unique agency and stunning connections to the beautiful site.
Modern dance relies on touch. The intention of this design was to create a haptic experience that the dancer “carved out” on their own with their choreography. The facade is hundreds of individual two by fours that are customized to limit the direct sunlight the main dance space gets. The entire facade acts as one gesture, as one piece is pushed, the adjacent pieces follow.
The idea of a “line of confrontation” fueled the planar progression diagrams (below). It was important to recognize that the space became split between front and back; audience and stage. These diagrams study how and where the stage and the back stage overlap.
application of plane
destruction of edges
thicken curve
addition of residential volumes
While the dance space is can be completely customized, the living space is “carved” in its own way. The nearly 15’ tall spaces are complex and connected. They reach up to the roof to let in direct light. The spaces are tall, smooth, and edge-less.
The act of choreography as a writing of space occurs through the unfolding of spatial dimensions through gesture and embodied movement. - Fiona Macintosh
