Conceived as a space for both traditional and emerging arts, The House of Arts & Culture serves as a cultural incubator that enlists its architecture and internal logic to create an open space of artistic expression that heightens the visitor’s experience and awareness of art and culture and fosters connections between the arts.

Inspired by traditional urban forms, the project was envisioned as an arrangement of separate volumetric components connected around a larger urban courtyard. Within this courtyard, a central circulation system creates a “vertical street” that connects layers of program and allows visitors to experience a variety of activities at each level. By establishing this open dialogue between programs, the assigned functionality of each space begins to dissolve as workshops and rehearsals become spontaneous performances to curious observers and allow informal, impromptu dialogues and exchanges that lead to creativity.