Dorchester Townhall

• Year: 2017
• Location: Dorchester, UK
• Size: 5.680 m²

This project proposes a new townhall building for the city of Dorchester by challenging the prevailing city hall typology. While talking about how the commercial and administrational functions of the city used to co-exist in European cities, the agenda of this project is quite straight-forward. The reinstatement of the Commerce-Culture-Conscience triangle that characterizes the Ideal City, by establishing a directly democratic system as a means of self-government and the return to primary production as means of economic sustainability.

The timing of this project can be considered more than relevant. In post-Brexit Britain, amidst an economic and political crisis, this project proposes a new radical way for rendering small communities like Dorchester self-sustaining. As a catalyst and binding agent for the success of such a building acts the cultural element which is juxtaposed with the other two functions. The new Dorchester Towhnall aims to become a place of political, economic and cultural exchange, or otherwise, a place about Dorchester’s Civic Identity.

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