DG 1110.3.120
DESIGN GUIDE: MUSIC AND DRAMA CENTERS
JANUARY 1981
CHAPTER 5: A MULTI-FORM THEATER
5-8. A MULTI-FORM
tems follow the structural grid, below which an
THEATER
extensive catwalk grid is suspended, rotated 30
degrees for full-coverage theater lighting and
rigging. The entire floor can function as stage;
there is only one section of fixed seating, ele-
vated for actors and scenery to pass below.
Here is a design solution that appears to contra-
dict one of the fundamental principles empha-
The rolling sections can be locked together and/
sized by this Guidethat a Room which seeks
or to a semicircular track providing upper level
to be all things masters none. Olmsted Theater
audience access. The arcade behind the seating
was commissioned by a university to be a lab-
serves sometimes as wrap-around actors' pas-
oratory for teaching the basics of theater craft
sage, offstage, sidestage or audience cross-aisle.
and stage design, beginning with the underlying
The Stage and double-high shop are located at
concepts of audience-performer relationships.
ground level, both directly accessible from the
The solution was to provide audience seating on
service receiving yard. The 30 x 65 foot "per-
modular sections that can be rolled around and
manent" Stage has an effective width of 45 feet
cranked up and down while leaving the Stage
in Frontal arrangement. Its leading edge and pit
and related equipment alone. It is an apparatus
zone are fully trapped. Belowstage is devoted to
designed primarily for the performers' experi-
dressing and storage, with a rehearsal classroom
ence of various staging situations without com-
under the shop.
plicated or expensive technology. Although re-
sulting sightlines are not always ideal, the
The lobby is entered at ground level under a
"device" functions remarkably well as a theater.
driveup canopy. The vestibule, angled to im-
It is interesting to note that the full range of po-
prove sound and light interception, leads to a
tential variations is seldom used for actual pro-
compact multi-level lobby that functions as a
ductions, which tend to settle on the Frontal or
stairway. Downstairs a truly spacious public
Thrust arrangements.
space opens up with a sunken meeting area suit-
able for impromptu presentations. Half of the
Diagonal orientation was again chosen to create
area is a sculpture gallery-daylighted, through
an awareness of enclosing structure around a
large plate glass window walls opening to an
single space. The masonry box was designed to
earth-and-timber amphitheater equal in size to
reject aircraft noise from a major flight path
the Room above, yet hidden by the theater's
overhead. Work lighting and mechanical sys-
bulk.
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