This satellite training facility is located in the Lower Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana in between a small residential/commercial neighborhood and a larger industrial area. The massing of the building addresses those two differing contexts in the height of the plinth and two towers. The program for the project was sorted into three groups: set and costume design, training facilities, and support. Set and costume design is located in the plinth, acting as the foundation for Cirque. Training facilities and practice studios are located in the taller tower, while supporting programs such as offices and audio/visual spaces are located in the smaller tower.

   

   Circulation plays an important role in the organization of the building. A public path connecting the two neighborhoods brings people up onto the plinth for shows and provides glimpses into the warm-up spaces below and the sky bridges over head. Four vertical circulation towers allow employees and performers easy access to their respective destinations.
  

One of the most amazing aspects of Cirque is watching the death defying stunts and looking in awe at the costumes and sets. The tour route attempts to bring the visitor as close to the danger as possible. As the tour spirals between the two towers, the visitors must walk through the skybridges, airy spaceframes with glass stairs and ramps that make the visitors feel as if they are the ones performing the Cirque stunts. The tour route offers glimpses of the performers hanging from cielings and flying past the tour to bolster this feeling of danger we associate with cirque.