International MUS School/Museum of Flamenco | MUS Architects

International MUS School/Museum of Flamenco MUS Architects

Dim the lights, let us set the mood…

Movements and gestures of dancers are full of expression and tension. Dancers bring the fascinated viewer into an internal world of experience and emotion through the swinging movement of their hips, the decorative arrangement of their fingers and smooth vibration of the ornamental frills. Rhythmic and dynamic music transmits the spectator into a world of incredible aesthetic feelings awakening all senses and inflaming the imagination…

Courtesy of MUS architects

The design for the International School/Museum of Flamenco proposed by MUS Architects is, in their words ‘how architecture dedicated to the culture of feisty flamenco should look’. And I agree with the imperative. Let me just note that I am not at all sure how it would work. But I agree that it does pretty well embody the spirit of flamenco as described above. The construct is also derived in part from an analysis of connections to its surroundings. The building form pulls up at the points where these paths of movement intersect the volume. In this way the building becomes its own topography, mapping an internal energy. This topography is translated into an incredibly optimistic concrete facade. The optimism primarily rests on engineering the formwork and finding a contractor to take on the job. It might, however, be a job for Ductal® or a similar fiber-based concrete…