"Design Handbook for Cultural Centres" publication (2015)
Part of Engine Room Europe project from 2014
As part of the Engine Room Europe-project from 2014, Stanica - a TEH member organisation from Slovakia and a participating partner of the mentioned above project - published the Design Handbook for Cultural Centres at the end of 2014. The book was authored by the Slovak architect, Peter Lenyi.
About the publication
This publication is a collection of personal experiences, observations and opinions on cultural centres. It is a list of examples, situations and stories collected in the years 2011- 2014 by visiting member centres of Trans Europe Halles network. “The result comes as 123 stories from 30 [TEH member] centres. Together, they form a mosaic, an information base […]“, says Slovak architect Peter Lenyi, author of the book. For anyone wishing to start a cultural centre, renovate a building, re-think or update the architecture or anyone searching for tips and tricks, this is the right source of inspiration.
From the publication's intro by Peter Lenyi
"Designing the environment we live in is a never-ending process. It is based on an effort to become better, more vivacious, and to respond to how the society and social needs are developing.
In Trans Europe Halles member cultural centres, design is firmly connected to other cultural activities that take place there. It is not just about results. Its strengths consist chiefly in processes of formation and subsequent use. Architectural design (as well as urban planning) and the art/culture programmes are reciprocally formative. This is the biggest difference when compared to large public institutions.
It is not a question of facades, sculptural volumes and investment amounts. The interesting part lies in the close relationships between varied programmes, activities, employees, artists and their audience. The solutions brought about in the world of cultural centres are often unheard of in other sectors. They result from the creative clash between architects, designers, artist, managers, volunteers, students, technicians, audience and neighbours.
The book is a collection of personal experiences, observations, opinions and positions on cultural centres. It includes examples, stories, schemes, plans and diagrams. The book can be read as an encyclopaedia, guide, manual or diary. It is dedicated to centres existing and emerging, to architects and non-architects. The research has been focused on revealing and naming architectural stories and solutions, from small and low-cost designs made in one week workshops to long-term processes, examination of the centres' needs, context and problem solving.
I started at the end of 2011. The first centre I visited was Bakelitstudio in Budapest in May, the last one Village Underground in London in December 2013.
I have tried to render what I have seen and heard, in the most authentic form possible. My aim was to act neither as an architect nor critic who would give advice. It was rather to humbly try and collect the moments I considered extraordinary, most often through their authors' testimonies. The presentation of information is restrained, even crude, free of anything superfluous. The vehicle is sometimes a picture, sometimes text. I wanted to interpret the world as I have seen it — without stylization and with a minimum of my own comments — so as not to reduce the range of possible interpretations and applications.
The result comes as 123 stories from 30 centres. Together, they form a mosaic, an information base that I — as architect — would like to consider as a starting point for work within the independent culture environment.
I would like to thank everyone who somehow contributed to the process of creating this book: my collaborators, consultants, respondents, the whole Trans Europe Halles network and particularly Stanica Žilina-Záriečie".
