GALERIA DE CARNAVAL
A RESILIENT BLUEPRINT FOR SUSTAINABLE FARMING
SANTIAGO, LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
The National Gallery for the Carnaval Arts is a proposed institution that is dedicated
to the production and celebration of Carnaval in the Dominican Republic. It contains
a multitude of flexible spaces for crafts, performance, and assembly; an accesible
space for actively curating and celebrating Dominican culture. The design proposal
includes a redesigned master plan for the central plaza in Santiago, with a new anchor
building which becomes the premise of the thesis.
The building aims to celebrate
the complex cultures of this post-colonial city in a site that has been continuously
victimized by natural disaster, failing infrastructure, poverty, and sociopolitical
turmoil. It pulls inspiration from the people as well as the context of institutional and
vernacular architectural typologies that decorate the urban fabric.
The building consists of five courtyard type structures that are shared under a
continuous roof park. The courtyard’s are called cuevas (or caves) and are modeled
after Moorish aljibes to keep the building cool in tropical climates. A continuous,
wide ramp allows for large procession through the space, culminating in a large
open-air ampitheatre.
