publications designingforeducation

7/21/2019 Publications Designingforeducation

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Concert Halls • Theaters • Opera Houses • Convention Centers • Cinemas • Aren

Annual 2015

Inside:

Culture injection: Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Greek revival: Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Arts funding: The quest for alternative financing models

Las Vegas Arena: Sin City’s next entertainment mecca

Baku masterpieceHeydar Aliyev Center: Zaha Hadid’s

most radical creation yet



DESIGN

Designing successful creativespaces in an educationalenvironment starts with askingthe right questions in order toclearly understand the users’

needs and goals. Will the space primarily beused for learning or will it host professionalperformances as well? What departmentswill use it? Will it have non-arts users? Is theschool a conservatory, training students towardprofessional arts careers? Will it introducestudents to the arts by providing performanceopportunities? eatre Projects Consultantsexplores how answers to these questions (andmany others) drive the design decisions thatultimately result in a space that is uniquely suitedto meet each institution’s vision.

“We don’t just reflect back to what the schoolasks for in its brief,” says John Riddell, projectmanager for eatre Projects. “We analyze it,ask questions and then offer a solution thatencompasses what they’ve asked for, as well aswhat they need to achieve it.”

eatre Projects works with its clients toprioritize their needs, helping them identifyprimary and secondary uses for the space based

on the school’s curriculum and mission, whichhelps align needs with the developing design.“If they’re teaching mostly drama, but alsowant to do some dance, they might not need adedicated dance space, but a drama theater withthe capability to also work for dance might meetboth needs,” says Riddell.

e other essential thing to remember whendesigning educational spaces is that first-timeusers are oen untrained and inexperienced.

“New users, especially young users, will not readthe manual before they operate the equipment;they’ll play first and ask questions later,” saysTom Lamming, stage engineer for eatreProjects. “In educational theaters, we can’tmake the same assumptions that we make in aprofessional environment – the actions of theuser will be different. We have to design andspecify equipment – especially mechanizedequipment – with more safeguards.”

“Our responsibility is simple, yet invaluable,”explains John Runia, theater designer foreatre Projects. “We’re a catalyst, bringing allthe various users together and facilitating anunderstanding of everyone’s needs in order toshape the design.”

Spaces for arts training

In spaces intended for arts training,understanding a school’s arts curriculum is asimportant as evaluating the level of intensitydedicated to training students.

For example, the Guildhall School of Music& Drama in London is a conservatory, trainingactors, musicians and technicians. Its curriculumfocuses on music first and classical drama

second. For the school’s new space, Milton Court,eatre Projects designed a world-class concerthall that gives student musicians and techniciansthe opportunity to train in the same professional-level conditions they can expect to experienceduring their careers.

But, Riddell notes, “is kind of specializedtraining oen benefits from different roomforms to introduce students to the many typesof activities they might encounter professionally.

32

AUDITORIA ANNUAL 2015

THEATRE PROJECTS CONSULTANTS

Designingfor educationCreating academic venues that meet the needs of differentclients calls for an investigative and collaborative approach

P h o t o s : M o r l e y v o n S t e r n b e r g / R H W

L A r c h i t e c t s



DESIG


Main: Guildhall School

of Music & Drama’s

new concert hall

Insets: Drama rehearsal

room and studio theater



Above/right:New Mexico State

University’s Center for the

Arts’ new and intimate theater

has been designed not only

to bring the audience closer

to the performers, but to give

students the opportunity to use

industry-standard equipment

in the safest possible setting

DESIGN

34


at will help them to understand the nuances ofthe spaces they’ll be working in aer graduation.”So in addition to the concert hall, eatreProjects designed two smaller spaces – a dramatheater, focusing on theater and the spokenword, and a flexible studio theater for rehearsalsand experimental performances. Both can alsoaccommodate musical performances that needmore intimate space than the large concert hall.

e liberal arts program at New Mexico StateUniversity’s (NMSU) Center for the Arts inLas Cruces, New Mexico, wanted to encouragestudent designers and performers to take risks,but the university felt that its old facility – a smallthrust theater with no fly space – restricted theschool’s performance training and hamperedefforts to expand its technical program.

NMSU’s arts curriculum concentrates ondramatic acting and musical theater, and alsohas the benefit of a professional acting company

in residence. So eatre Projects designedan intimate theater for the spoken word andmusicals, with two sloping balconies, bringingthe audience closer to the performers. MichaelFerguson, project manager for eatre Projects,notes that the design team worked to extendcreativity, safety and a supportive environmentbeyond the performing area. e new theaterincludes a full stagehouse with a contemporarycounterweight rigging system, which gives

students the chance to train on equipmentcommon in the industry. “We want studentsto be able to operate everything in the safestenvironment possible – so the booths are biggerto hold full classes, and we used stairs backstageinstead of straight ladders, which would requirefall protection,” says Ferguson.

Cheltenham Ladies’ College in southwestEngland is committed to providing a very broadeducation for girls aged 11 to 18. e curriculumspecifically encourages students to embracethings they are passionate about – from sportsto intellectual pursuits and cultural activities. “Itisn’t a conservatory,” Riddell says, “but the schoolwanted to support the arts really well with a greatperformance space for students.”

For the design of its new Parabola ArtsCentre, the school wanted a space for dramathat could also support occasional small musicalensembles. In response, eatre Projects

designed a practical room, primarily for thespoken word, with manually adjustable featuresthat enable the proscenium theater to host musicperformances. Large enough for students to learnproper performance techniques such as voiceprojection, and with contemporary equipmentto learn current technical production practices,the Parabola Arts Centre is still small enough tonurture student performers and technicians ina safe, intimate environment.

T o m K

e s s l e r

T o m K

e s s l e r




Main/above: The Parabola Ar

Centre at Cheltenham Ladie

College has been designed

with manually adjustable

features for both spoken wor

and musical performances

Spaces for global communities

eatre Projects has seen an emerging trendamong its educational clientele: schools withmultiple international campuses. While theessentials are similar to other training programs,and the need to understand curricula andtraining intensity remains, eatre Projects’approach to international campuses includespaying close attention to consistency andfamiliarity of spaces for students and faculty.

Two models with differing needs arebecoming apparent. e first is a universitydeveloping an international campus linked to itsprimary campus. e second is a charter school,usually primary- and secondary-level education,with campuses in multiple countries.

Globally oriented universities such as NewYork University (NYU) are at the forefront of theuniversity model. NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus onSaadiyat Island (NYUAD) is the newest member

of the NYU global network, which includescampuses in 13 countries. Curricula are designedto enable students and teachers to easily movethroughout the network without leaving theuniversity’s resources. e idea behind NYU’sglobal campuses is to mirror the diversity of thestudents and faculty, as well as fostering the idealof the global citizen.

eatre Projects is currently working asan independent advisor to NYU for the new

theater at NYUAD. “We get to question, query,challenge and hold the design team to the brief,”says Tom Davis, associate project manager foreatre Projects. Recognizing NYU’s emphasison student training, eatre Projects is makingsure that the technical facilities are scaledappropriately to accommodate more people thanusual. “ey need to be able to take studentsto places where normally only one or twoprofessionals would go. A whole class might needto go up to the roof, where a single rigger wouldusually work,” says Davis.

Davis continues, “Even our equipmentpurchases reflect the need for students andfaculty members to seamlessly transitionbetween international campuses. We want to givethem a sound grounding in the equipment andtechnology, as well as safe operation, that theywould see on other campuses in the NYU system– and, most importantly, when they graduate and

work professionally.”But innovative, globally based educational

models aren’t limited to higher education.Avenues: e World School, a charter schoolbased in New York City serving primary- andsecondary-level students, plans to open campusesin most of the world’s major cities over the next15 years. Avenues’ goal is to provide a singleinternational school with multiple, integratedcampuses connected by a shared curriculum.

DESIG

T o m C r o n i n / F o s t e r W i l s o n A r c h i t e c t s

Sammonds Photography



of what’s new in educational performing artsbuildings. In contrast to buildings designed fortraditional arts departments, these spaces areintended to bring the arts into other areas ofeducation. “ese clients don’t want a traditionaltheater, they want to explore alternate, immersiveeducational environments,” says Jules Lauve,project manager, eatre Projects.

When Northern Kentucky University inHighland Heights, Kentucky, was pursuing itsmost recent space, Griffin Hall, it was the Collegeof Informatics behind the brief, not the Collegeof Arts & Sciences. And it wanted a unique space– a digital auditorium where collaboration andflexibility were key and integrated technologycould expand student and faculty creativity.

e challenge in designing experimentalspaces is to avoid restricting how the spacecan be used. eatre Projects’ solutions focuson providing infrastructure to support anypossible setup. Griffin Hall was designed tobring together people from a range of disciplines– artists, musicians, doctors, scientists – tostudy information and communication in their

broadest social context. Outfitted as a studiotheater performance space, the main auditoriumincludes a large, integrated video wall andglassed-in breakout rooms around the balcony.e seats include removable, fold-down tablesfor laptop use and are on retractable telescopingplatforms to create a flat-floor configuration.

“e multiple configurations and multipleuses in Griffin Hall permit exploring media,performance, collaboration and artistic statement

Having a consistent pedagogy throughout allits campuses is important to Avenues, ensuringthat students relocating with their families have aconsistent education. When Avenues approachedeatre Projects about designing a theater spacefor its new campus in Beijing, it was clear that thedesign needed to be scalable to serve as a guidefor future campuses, as well as customizable forthe specific needs of the Beijing campus.

“ere’s a template for an Avenues classroom,but the school was less sure about the templatefor an Avenues theater,” says Benton Delinger,project manager for eatre Projects. “Ourgoal for this project was to provide a package ofoptions to choose from throughout the system.e local architect in each country starts withthe template scaled to the size appropriate tothe location and then eatre Projects providesadvice tailored to the specific space being built.What’s important is that there is now a footprintand a common vocabulary throughout the schoolsystem.”

e space, now in design, will accommodateclasses, assemblies, small music ensembles,

school theater productions as well as localperforming arts and event rentals. Studentsat Avenues Beijing will enjoy a space andequipment similar to what they can expect, notonly at another Avenues campus, but also if theygo on to study performing arts at university level.

Spaces for interdisciplinary exploration

High-tech, interactive laboratory spaces forexploration and research are at the leading edge

36


Above:Northern Kentucky

University’s Griffin Hall isa multidisciplinary venue

that features an integrated

video wall and removable

seating on retractable

telescoping platforms for

a flat-floor configuration

DESIGN

B r a d F

e i n k n o p f



Curriculum-driven design

It’s clear that the ‘education’ part of aneducational performing arts space has a majorimpact on the final design. Success relies on thedesign team understanding who will be using thespace and what the institution hopes to impart toits students. Conservatories – with experienced,pre-professional students – require professional-level facilities and equipment, oen with multipleroom types, to provide real-world surroundings.Teaching institutions require realistic facilitiesand extremely robust equipment to support lessexperienced students who may or may notmake the arts into a career. Globally orientedschools – at every educational level – needfacilities that are consistent throughout theirsystems. And experimental spaces belonging toschools at the cutting edge of technology, art andcommunication need rooms unconstrained bytraditional models, allowing students andteachers the room to breathe, think and create.

Each institution will have its own approachto student training, but, as John Runia explains,“Every school wants its students to experience

everything the arts can offer. In theater, that’snot just performing. It’s lighting and box office,front-of-house, marketing, costuming, stage-managing and all the stuff that’s not onstage.For every performer, there are 10 people behindthem doing all the things that have to be done.With thoughtful design, we can expose studentsto all of that.” n

www.theatreprojects.com

in ways that are unbridled by conventionalconfigurations and technology,” says Lauve.

Similarly, the creative drive behind theCollaborative Performance Lab (known ase Cube) at Virginia Tech’s Moss Arts Centerin Blacksburg, Virginia, was not the theaterdepartment, but the newly formed Institute forCreativity, Arts, and Technology – a researchcenter whose mission blurs the lines between thearts and sciences, bringing together art, design,engineering and science to fuel innovation.

“We couldn’t guess everything they would doin this space,” says David H Rosenburg, projectmanager for eatre Projects, about creatingan arts laboratory capable of exploring theintersection of such diverse disciplines. “So wewanted to deliver something that was infinitelyflexible.” Essentially a robust black box theater,e Cube is a large performance, rehearsaland audience space surrounded on all sides bytechnical galleries.

Calling it “more laboratory than performancespace”, Rosenburg notes that the design teamhad to resist the temptation to install permanent

features that might inhibit the creativity of theusers. Instead, the focus was on infrastructureand equipment – chain motors, theatricaldraperies and a 32-tall gridiron (instead of atypical pipe grid), capable of rigging lighting,scenery, props and video and audio equipment ininfinite combinations.

“We gave them a blank canvas with infinitepossibilities,” says Scott Crossfield, theaterdesigner for eatre Projects.

AUDITORIAANNUAL 2015

Main/above: The distinctive

Collaborative Performance

Lab at Virginia Tech’s Moss

Arts Center provides a

playground at the intersectio

of the performing arts,

new-media and education

DESIG

V i r g i n i a T e c h

http://www.theatreprojects.com/

http://www.theatreprojects.com/

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