Theatre Design & Technology - May 1965 - 6

the stage floor level by stairways, an Inconvenient arrangement. Adequate offstage space for
green room and "ready room" for actors is missing. This is a particular necessity for a large
opera auditorium of 3,500 spectators, in which
large groups of performers are anticipated. The
delivery of scenery and properties is contemplated
through trap doors, by means of large elevators
placed in the rear of the stage, greatly limiting
its flexibility. Acoustical isolation of the large
and small auditoriums, which are placed side by
side and which have in common a wide promenade
and stairway between them, is insufficient. The
same can be said of the relation between the
stage, the lobbies and general utility spaces.
The construction system adopted--pointed vaulted
shells--is designed for purely external effect,
and is hidden on the inside by suspended ceilings. Between the cei lings and the vault structure
there remain immense unusable volumes. Here
is clear indication of an inadequate and uneconomical architectural solution.
As other examples of a formali stic approach to
auditorium design (when a preconceived architectural and compositional idea is in sharp conflict with the convenient functional organi zation,
and expedient, economical construction), several
of the competition designs for the dramatic
theatre in DU'sseldorf may be cited--among them
one premiated in an international competition in
1959-60.

FIGURE 5:

Such purely formal methods of compOSition cannot, of course, withstand critici sm from the standpoint of functional organization of the building,
or of its economic aspects. Irregular curvilinear outlines of the offstage storage and of
backstage areas are inconvenient for a slipstage
layout. The cylindrical stage tower, (unsuitable
even forthe installation ofa gridiron and elevator
systems requiring rectangular outlines) is merely a decorative shape into which a square stage
is inscribed. A considerable portion of the volume is left unused, yet the necessary service
areas around the stage are not provided. Articulation of the dressing rooms with both large and
small stages is inconvenient. Rooms of comparatively small size, such as dressing rooms, restaurants and service rooms, which are located on
the first and second floors, have inconvenient
shapes and dimensions resulting from the curvIlinear shape of the outside walls. Arbitrary disposition of the auditorium volumes leads to
casual placement of supporting columns and
walls, disfiguring and crowding the interiors.

Proiect lor a theatre in D"usseldorf by Bernard
Piau (1959·60)

1. Lorge auditorium: 1,100 seats
2. Stage
3. Scenery storage
4. Small auditorium: 440 seats
5.

In a design by B, Pfou, the building is conceived as a combination of architectural spaces
with complicated shapes, all grouped around the
high cylindrical volume of the stage tower (Figure 5). The curvilinear outlines of the first,
second and third floor plans lack any clearly expressed rhythmical line or architectural logic.
The volumes of the bui Iding are articulated in an
offhand manner, forming completely accidental
combinations, and suggesting the creation of a
modern abstract painter.

Plan at thi rd level

Model

Dressing rooms

6. Lockers
7. Scenery storage
8. Offstage storage
9. Balconies

I USITT

lHEAlR£ DESIGN AND TECHNOUXlY

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