Cinematic Symbiotic
Palads Biotopia
Centre for Cinema & Ecology
3rd Place Open Ideas Competition
2021
Palads Teatret is an artefact of many layers of cultural and civic life in Copenhagen. Palads is difficultly sited and rather awkward example Neo Baroque architecture. It was turned into a city size artwork by Poul Gernes in 1989. Its colour scheme as with its recent development plans have inspired vigorous debate, to an extent of almost incomparable citizen participation in city development planning. Palads represents the values which are worth fighting for; value, heritage, culture, and togetherness.
We propose extending this principle to illustrate the interconnectedness of all things and creating a new centre for cinema, interactive and installation art and climate & biodiversity. Preserving Palads’ historic and cultural monument, we wish to build a contextual and regenerative roof-top extension to house new galleries for climate cinema and art. Axel Torv is transformed to a landscape for ecological recovery. Using principles of regenerative landscape and excavation, we will establish a new habitat where inter-species communities (including humans). We will restore the quality of the soil and porosity of the landscape as well as re-establish the historic waterways that once flowed in the earth at the site, and to which the still standing Waterworks are testament.
Biotopia is dedicated to intersection of cinema, art and science with an emphasis on climate, ecology and regenerating the living environment. Biotopia seeks to make the abstract and complex concepts of climate and biodiversity crises accessible. We wish to create a place that invites everyone to form tactile and empowering understanding of how collective change is possible and very necessary. Together we can build the Symbiocene.
Illustrations: Djernes & Bell
