Recently, students in Assistant Professor Gonzalo Munoz-Vera’s studio traveled to Roanoke to visit the proposed site for their Film (Media) Theater project.

The project aims to explore new ways of experiencing media by contesting/questioning conventional traditions of spectatorship and performance in a building that provides a supporting architectural program. Inserted in an urban milieu, the Film (Media) Theater will respond as an activator of public spaces while fostering arts and the exploration of unconventional approaches to media. The building itself should represent such exploration by reinterpreting the role of a viewer and what is viewed (explored in P01), as well as introducing adaptable spaces for viewing/performing.

The visit began at the parking lot that students will use as the project’s site. Starting inside-out by first visiting the interior of the parking garage and walking through its three levels up to the rooftop floor. It continued with a walk around the site, revealing its particular topography, which resulted in a building with three levels facing Jefferson St and one level towards its opposite end on 1st St. Students then walked around the neighborhood, recognizing the parking lot abundance towards the west of the site and a more civic/historical zone towards the east. For example, Elmwood Park and Roanoke Public Library are of particular significance, which will play a key role in their projects’ urban insertion. Walking around the site made students recognize the importance of public infrastructure for ameliorating communities in need in Roanoke. The visit ended by returning to their cars in the parking garage, this time taking back first-person experiences of the site and its surroundings that will equip students with fundamental information and fresh ideas for their design proposals.