building for the performing arts 5 - adaptable auditoria
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TheatreplanBuilding for the Performing Arts
Adaptable Auditor ia
Adaptable Auditoria
Building for the Performing Arts Guide 5 J uly/August 2011 Theatreplan LLP
This guide summarises the methodsused to change the form and/or sizeof a theatre auditorium.
There are many ways of making
a theatre space adaptable toaccommodate different types ofperformance or to change thefunction of the venue; for example,a change from proscenium to thruststage format, from theatre to concerthall, from seated to flatfloor, or evenfrom rows of seats to cabaret tables.
Transforming an auditorium cansometimes be achieved simplyby moving objects manually,but, depending on the scale ofthe change, stage engineeringtechniques may be required toachieve the result in a reasonabletime and with the minimum number
of staff. Quite large objects canbe moved by hand when mountedon air bearings; a technique oftenadopted in the theatre for movinglarge blocks of seats. Other solutionsemploy swivel castors, wheels ontracks, or lifts to enable verticalmovement.
This guide illustrates some of the different methods
used to achieve a flexible auditorium format and the
way in which theatre spaces can be adapted to suit
the various challenges that modern performances
demand:
1. Simple staging adaption
2. Basic flexible systems
3. Adaptable courtyard theatres
4. Adjusting ceiling height
5. Moving seating and walls
6. Major mechanised systems
I can take any empty space andcall it a bare stage. A man walks
across this empty space whilst
someone is watching him, and
this is all that is needed for an act
of theatre to be engaged.
Peter Brook, The Empty Space
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www.theatreplan.co.uksupporting arts organisations at all stages of the building process
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1. Simple Staging Adaption
The simplest form of adaptable space is a flatfloor
where a performer is surrounded by a standing
audience. This can work well for up to 5 rows of
people. A greater capacity therefore requires a
larger circle. The crowd will naturally gather as
closely as possible whilst allowing the performer
space for their act.
However, if the audience expects to sit down, the
dynamic becomes more complex.
With an audience seated on a flatfloor the
performer would need to be raised so that the
viewer can see more than from the waist upwards.
The alternative is to raise the audience seating
in relation to the performer. For a balancedrelationship the audience should be distributed
equally from the performers eye level: half above
and half below.
Performers are masked by those seated towards the front
Performers are more visible but in a domineering position
Audience seated on three heights of chair on a flatfloor
The tiers may also retract to offer a flatfloor option
The audience-performer dynamic:
Audience and performers are in a balanced dynamic
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Simple Staging Adaption
The George Bernard Shaw Theatre
RADA, London
Slim profile stackable chairs may be moved or
stored more economically than bulky upholstered
seats or benches. A clever device is to use three
heights of chair, as provided for the George Bernard
Shaw Theatre. This approach works well for three
audience rows around a small stage and avoids
platforms, treads and rails. Not all audiences will
like sitting in the lower or higher chairs, but theatres
that choose to adopt different types of seating also
find that this can heighten the experience for their
audience.
Architects: Avery Associates ArchitectsTheatre Consultants: Theatre Project Consultants
The Michael Frayn Space
Hampstead Theatre, London
In this example of a flexible performing area, the
Michael Frayn Space at the Hampstead Theatre
includes an integrated system of benches and
seating tiers. The comfortable bench seats sit
directly onto the tiers which makes them light to
move and compact in storage. There are numerous
versions of tiered seating components designed
for this type of application; many are available for
hire or purchase for festival or arena presentations.
Others are custom made for a specific auditorium.
Architects: Bennetts AssociatesTheatre Consultants: Theatreplan
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Where there is a need for a simple means of
accommodating different sizes of audience, basic
systems can be used to change the seating and
auditorium layouts for a variety of theatre and
community events.
Broadway Theatre
Barking, London
The Broadway Theatre is a 340-seat conversion
of a town hall with a simple system to transform
a flat-floor community space into a theatre. The
main seating area is retractable and connects with
fixed seating in the balcony and some side seats to
wrap the audience around the room.
A stage riser is formed by removing floor panels to
create a shallow pit in front of the stage, into which
seats are set for the front few rows on rostra. When
not required as a theatre the room can be returned
to a flat-floor space by retracting the seating and
replacing the floor panels that cover the pit.
Manual and power-assisted suspensions are
provided for hanging curtains, scenery and lights.
Architects: Foster Wilson ArchitectsTheatre Consultants: Theatreplan
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2. Basic Flexible Systems
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Hampstead Theatre
Swiss Cottage, London
Theatres enjoying a regular small audience have
to be able to respond occasionally to the needs of
larger audiences. Seats not sold in a balcony can
be made invisible to those in the stalls until demand
requires them. Moving walls and curtains are not
satisfactory for cutting this space off unless they are
integrated into the design of the room, but at the
Hampstead Theatre the design of the balcony and
the lighting enable this to be achieved simply by
leaving it dark.
Hampstead has the ability to raise the stage to
the level of the auditorium entrances and have
the auditoriumfl
at. The seats are moved on air-bearings to change the form at the front of the
room.
Architects: Bennetts AssociatesTheatre Consultants: Theatreplan
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Basic Flexible Systems
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The Anvi l
Basingstoke, Hampshire
Where a hall is to be used for concerts as well as
theatrical performances, it will be necessary to
eliminate the proscenium. Along with retractable
seating and a forestage elevator in the Anvil,
the tormentors and teaser of the proscenium
fold up for storage under the stage for concert
performances. The surrounding fascia is made of
a special fire-proof material carried on large rollers
above the stage.
This hall does not have a fly tower, but it does
have some over-stage electric hoists, together
with manually-operated hemp suspensions. It can
present symphony and rock concerts, epic dramaand musicals, but the fixed platform width is too
narrow for dance companies.
Architects: The Arts TeamTheatre Consultants: Theatreplan
Basic Flexible Systems
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The Grove Theatre
Dunstable
The Grove Theatre accommodates 777 in the stalls
and circle and has a flexible system for the stalls
floor and orchestra pit. The stalls seating can be
removed on palettes into a store under the stage
and partly on a retractable unit towards the rear of
the stalls thus enabling this area to be used for flat
floor events.
With the seating in place, an orchestra pit can
be formed or the pit elevator can be raised to
stage level to create a forestage. The orchestra
pit/forestage platform lift is mechanised, but the
seating wagons are moved by hand.
Architects: Glenn Howells ArchitectsTheatre Consultants: Theatreplan
Basic Flexible Systems
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Small entertainment venues that anticipate a wide
variety of creative production styles often benefit
from a courtyard theatre format.
The Cottesloe Theatre
National Theatre, London
The Cottesloe Theatre demonstrates a different
sort of adaptability: that for a production rather
than for a function. In its basic end-stage form, with
seating on the two gallery levels, this remarkable
space seats about 400 people. This number can
vary widely with the arrangement used: variations
include proscenium, thrust stage, traverse, in-the-
round, custom-designed and promenade formats.
Architects: Denys Lasdun
Theatre Consultants: Theatre Projects Consultants
3. Adaptable Courtyard Theatres
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Adaptable Courtyard Theatres
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Takkellof tet (Studio Stage)
Operaen, Copenhagen
These arrangements of the seating and towers use
rectilinear forms. Some of the towers can be stored
in the scene dock outside the studio and a number
of free forms of seating can also be created.
Adaptable Courtyard Theatres
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Takkellof tet (Studio Stage)
Operaen, Copenhagen
This space uses a sophisticated combination of
retractable seating and towers, which are moved on
air-bearings in order to create a number of theatre
forms and to accommodate different numbers of
people. A selection of ten of these performance
arrangements are shown here. The studio has a
modular tensioned-wire grid with electric hoists
above the whole area.
Architects: Henning Larsen ArchitectsTheatre Consultants: Theatreplan
Adaptable Courtyard Theatres
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Theatre Royal Plymouth
Devon
The Theatre Royal has 1320 seats on three levels,
but this number can be reduced to 791 when the
ceiling is lowered to the level of the upper circlerail. The ceiling is carried on suspended screws
mounted in the roof void.
Architects: Peter Moro ArchitectsTheatre Consultants: Carr & Angier
Another approach in larger theatres that sometimes
need only to accommodate smaller audiences (for
example, for drama as opposed to opera or musical
theatre) is to close off the top balcony by lowering
the ceiling. A smaller audience will feel more
comfortable in a room that appears to be almost
full. A more appropriately-sized room will also offer
a re-scaled acoustic environment from the closer
proximity of reflecting surfaces when the ceiling is
lowered.
4. Moving Ceilings
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Milton Keynes Theatre
Buckinghamshire
A similar principle is used in the theatre in Milton
Keynes. This theatre has a stalls, circle and upper
circle with a total of 1400 seats.
Architects: Andrzej Blonski ArchitectsTheatre Consultants: Carr & Angier
Moving Ceilings
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A number of theatres make changes to the form
of the stage by moving rostra or by having one or
more elevators that can raise or lower the area
between the stage and the audience to create an
orchestra pit. This can allow a larger audience to be
present for drama or when recorded music is used
and can also allow the shape of the stage to be
changed. In extreme circumstances the stage can
be converted into a catwalk for fashion shows and
similar events.
De Montfort Hall
Leicester
At De Montfort Hall, the stalls seating is on seating
wagons and these can be set up in various formsto suit an event, or they can all be lowered on one
of two elevators and stored under the auditorium.
One of the elevators can form an orchestra pit and
the other, at the rear of the auditorium, raises the
rear seat wagons to create a tier that meets the
permanent balcony.
Architects: Burrell Foley Fischer LLPTheatre Consultants: Theatreplan (1994 adaptations)
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5. Moving Seating and Walls
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The Dome
Brighton
This historic venue is Grade 1 listed and the
business plan indicated that it could not produce
enough income unless it was able to present a
wide range of performances: classical and popular
music concerts, musical and drama productions
and special events. One important criterion - that
the stalls floor could be cleared of seats completely
- was achieved by storing the unused seating
wagons in a new basement store below the stalls.
A second level of excavation was eliminated by
folding down the seats and stacking them one
above another. This enabled the capital cost to be
reduced significantly.
As space was limited on stage, the choir stalls are
now stored vertically on the rear wall. To convert
from a concert platform to a theatre, the side organ
screens and header drive forward to form the
proscenium. All this has given the Dome a new
lease of life.
Architects: The Arts Team ArchitectsTheatre Consultants: Theatreplan (2002 adaptations)
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Moving Seating and Walls
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The Derngate
Northampton
The potential changes in format are greater still
at the Derngate. This hall converts from a flat
floor for exhibitions, sporting events, trade shows,
weddings, and banquets, to a 1600-seat theatre.
Similarly, a concert hall format with choir seating
or additional audience placed behind the orchestra
can be achieved.
The change of format is achieved by moving
seating wagons and side-wall towers on air-
bearings. Under the auditorium is a large garage for
the seating wagons. This solution was pioneered by
Theatreplans John Whitaker and Richard Brett in
1983.
This is a receiving house and has a full heightfly
tower allowing scenery to be flown above the stage.
It also has a safety curtain and the proscenium side
walls can be moved on-stage for theatre and right
off-stage for concerts and flatfloor events.
Architects: Renton Howard Wood Levin ArchitectsTheatre Consultants: Theatre Projects Consultants
Moving Seating and Walls
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Moving Seating and Walls
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6. Major Mechanised Systems
Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Philadelphia
One of the simplest mechanisms is to use a
revolving stage. In the 650-seat Perelman Theater
an extra-large turntable has been installed which
carries an orchestra shell upstage for when the
space is to become a concert venue. Use of the
revolve means that the standing scenery on stage
can remain and is rotated to the rear as the concert
shell is brought into view. There is a full fly tower
over the stage. In addition, an orchestra pit lift and
an elevator under the stalls allow the seats to be
removed for standing performances and for flat
floor events.
Architects: Rafael Violy Architects
Theatre Consultants: Theatre Projects Consultants
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Major Mechanised Systems
Chandler Center for the Arts
Ar izona
Where there is a regular requirement to change
the size of the auditorium for theatre, concerts,
conferences and other events, it is possible to do
this mechanically. One practical solution, which
is useful in performing arts centres and university
buildings, allows the removed seating to be used
to create a separate breakout space, recital hall
or small theatre, and the Chandler Center is a
typical example. By rotating parts of the rear of
an auditorium to face another stage or platform,
acoustic separation can be achieved reliably and
eliminate the need for space for large sound-
proof partitions. This solution was pioneered by
Theatreplans Richard Brett in the late 1980s asa competition solution to the complex brief for the
Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
Architects: SPS+Architects(Schneider Shay Pian +Pittenger)
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Centre Culturel Du Mont-Jacob
Jonquire, Quebec, Canada
This is a smaller space, seating 396, which can
change its form from end-stage to partial or full
flat-floor entirely by mechanical means. Each row
of seats is an elevator and to change the format,
each is lifted in turn and the seats are rotated so as
to hang vertically underneath the floor. The elevator
then returns to either the floor or stage level
depending on the requirements of the production.
Architects: Bertrand Dallaire ArchitectsTheatre Engineering: Gala Systems
Major Mechanised Systems