Typology
Theater
Client
Tanjore
Built-up Area
5,018sq. ft.,126PAX
Location
Vailanakanni
The proposed theatre at Velankanni is to feature short movies, religious documentaries, incidents from the Bible and the like to the pilgrims visiting the main church. The façade is inspired from the tall Gothic European churches.
The design concept for the interior space is an abstract recreation of the founding origin story of the shrine. The sacred verbatim goes that, Dutch sailors on a ship were caught on a dark night in the rage of the Bay of Bengal. Unable to locate the direction of land, they had prayed to the Almighty for salvation. A single lone star had appeared in the midst of the swirling sky showering it’s grace on the crew. They decided to follow the star and found themselves to have hit the shoreline of Velankanni. In thanking for the grace bestowed, the church was founded by them. The theatre interior is an effort to create the same in real space. Combination of lighting and acoustic materials is used in crafting the scene of yore.
The flooring is a grainy pattern of shades of dark greys with arcs of blue step lights and skirting light on black tiles forming the tempest. The audience is seated on black chairs which allude to the situation on the divine night, where the sailors carried by the vessel would have had minimum visibility of the ship. Beyond we have the undulating landmass in wooden slats. Continuing upward is the black fabric panel of the dark velvet night merging with the black sky ceiling. This is the depiction of the chaotic environment, distorting clear perception in the blackness, which drove the crew into fear years ago. The ceiling has an abstract depiction of the divine star by a pattern arrangement of selective decorative lighting in the intersection of a crucifix of light. This is oriented towards to the screen, directing the viewers towards it, just as how years ago the crew were directed to the path of salvation.
The rays from the star, sleeker lights continue to radiate on the ceiling and travel down the wall till the land mass. Here the horizon has a cove light symbolising how the land was brought to vision during the original incident. The space is to take the audience back to the time of the incident. The building’s sole purpose and function being the spreading of the information and spiritual knowledge through stories and enacted scenes, it is only befitting that the place by itself narrates one through it’s very character and being.
