Romani Tectonic: A new paradigm in cultural exchange through re-territorising the city Part 1 Project 2011 Henry Beech Mole University for the Creative Arts | UK The Czech Republic, a new economic power on the global stage, has sought, since therevolution to establish an increasing density of tertiary industry within the city walls of itscapital. Turning to the West, Prague has been established as attractive new terrain forforeign investment and conglomerate business. The free-market transformation of thecity has forced out many small businesses and poorer peoples, as retail rents andproperty prices soar.While the Czech Republic is presented as a developed, democratic, and civilised nation,during this period of transition from the era of Soviet autocracy to sovereign democracythe large minority Romani population bore the brunt of a new right-wing politics. Duringthe period between 1948 and 1989 Prague’s native Roma lived on equal terms with otherCzech citizens; were educated, given employment, and housing. Now, Roma are secondclass citizens; re-located to state-owned ghettos, and educated in schools for childrenwith special needs. Some reports suggest that Romani women have been forciblysterilised as recently as 2006. In the sixth year of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, aEuropean Union intuitive of which the Czech Republic currently holds the presidency, it istime to demonstrate that the Czech and Roma can open a co-operative cultural dialogue.Can an architectural device seek to exploit these conditions and generate a subversivecultural exchange?This proposal, entitled Romani Tectonic, subverts the racial tensions between the Czechand Roma, enacting new mechanisms for cultural exchange disassociated from personalencounter. At the heart of the scheme lies a secret acoustic, subterranean gypsy-jazzperformance space that carries music out to the very extents of the site, where tunedresonators reduce two of three dominant frequencies; allowing the passer-by to hear theviolin as they travel to embark on their weekly shop, the double bass and they disembarkthe tram, and the guitar and they venture out of the office for lunch. These isolatedfrequencies entice one into the central Trida (square) where the complete symphony maybe enjoyed. A yarn dyeing factory bleeds out the colour of the days toil, onto theeasternmost point of the site, providing a locating beacon at night, and expressing thevibrancy of the Roma culture in its most literal sense. A monthly horse market, held onthe promenade which expresses the location of the metro lines below, transforms theTrida i Tutor(s)Mr Oliver Froome-Lewis