massachusetts institute of technology
spring 2023
professor | cristina parreno alonso

addressing the prompt which asked for an intervention in the existing Strand Theater , this project introduces a ‘new’ subterranean space , the Shadow , which operates independently of the Strand the majority of the time . given this dichotomy, there are two separate entrances : one connecting the street to the theater via a renovated ‘arm’ , the other being demarcated by a monolithic hatch in the posterior parking lot which leads down into the Shadow . these two methods of circulation meet only once in the atrium lobby of the strand , but the connection is sealed save for idiosyncratic occasions . however, the main spaces themselves can also be linked via the retractable floor and descending stage which make up the performance space of the original Strand Theater . the form of the Shadow references historical coliseums , arenas , and anatomical theaters . subsequently there is a notion of the Shadow being a discovered or archaeological space on top of which the Strand was unknowingly built , such that this intervention merely links two existing spaces that previously were not aware of each other.