Theatre Design & Technology - Dec 1969 - 4

A USITT Public Forum-

Performing Arts Centers
On May 1, 1969, USITT conducted a public forum
on the subject of performing arts center design at the
Hotel Commodore in New York. Its focus was on de·
termining the sizes, seating capacities and other design considerations for performing arts centers. Alex·
ander S. Lacy, Chairman of the Institute's Theatre Administration Committee prepared the program. As
Chairman of the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center
Authority, Birmingham, Alabama, Mr. Lacy has been
immersed for four years in developing what will be
one of the nation's largest performing arts and convention centers. Its design resulted from the largest
Class-A competition ever held under rules of the
American Institute of Architects.
Earlier this year, a shake-up in the management of Atlanta, Georgia's civic theatre generated reams of media material regarding the necessity for community
performing arts centers in general. These articles led
city fathers all over the country to Question anew the
validity of such centers.

Who Needs Them?

This event led the USITT to broaden the forum's
scope to cover not only design considerations but also the demands and needs of performing arts groups
and the public-and whether such demands were suf·
ficient to justify construction programs.
Four panelists were selected to offer their experienced
views from the standpoints of the community planner (or owner, in the case of a publicly owned facility). the architect, the independent consultant and
the performing user groups: ROBERT D. GRAFF,
Arthur D. Little, Inc., head of New York office; HUGH
HARDY, Hardy, Holzman, Pfeiffer Associates, Architects; HELEN M. THOMPSON, American SymphofW
Orchestra League, Inc., Executive Vice President and
Treasurer; and RICHARD WEINSTEIN, Manhattan Planning and Development Office, Director.
Presiding in Chairman Lacy's absence was Mr. Robert
Brannigan, DirectQr for Productions at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, who added ideas from the
facility manager's point of view.
This articl e is based on edited comments by the panelists.

The Economic Impact of Lincoln Center
Robert Brannigan: At Lincoln Center, night
after night we have 12,000 patrons. The
Center also provides between 1,800 and
2,000 jobs per week, Obviously all these
people need a performing arts center, at
least here in New York. The average real
estate income tax for the area immediately
around Lincoln Center was $10 million a
year for the ten years before Lincoln Center
was bu ilt. In the five years between 1 962
(the opening year of the Philharmonic Hall)
and 1967, the tax revenue in the same
area doubled to $20 million a year. It is estimated that the tax revenue . . .will be $30
million a year by 1970.
Lincoln Center has obviously been beneficial to the city's economy by way of its effect on real estate value surrounding the
Center. .. Furthermore, Lincoln Center and
its constituent organizations have annual
gross budgets totalling $58 million, which
must necessarily find its way into the economy of the city one way or anotherwhether it's through the construction shops,
employment of labor, singers, or whatever.

A Portfolio of Recent
One of the most distinguished theatre engineers influencing construction of current
arts centers is George C. Izenour at New
Haven, Connecticut. Izenour has recently
been honored by a showing of recent theatre
and auditorium design solutions at Lincoln
Center's Vincent Astor Gallery in New York,
in exhibition alongside the work of Robert
Edmond Jones and Norman Bel Geddes.
Titled "Three American Innovators," the
exhibition featured Izenour projects for Houston, Winnipeg, Milwaukee, Roanoke, Akron,
Madison and Caesarea, Israel. We are reproducing proj ects for Akron and Madison,
along with two other recent Izenour consultations on variable multi-use structures for
the performing arts. They offer an interesting counterpoint to the USITT Forum chronicled above, even though they represent no
direct relation to that event itself.

George

Madison Performing Arts Hall: Madison, Wisconsin

MUlti-Purpose Hall will serve City of Madison
as principal performance facility for traveling symphony orchestras, recitalists, drama,
opera, dance, and musical comedy companies.
Ceiling is fabricated of leaded vinyl and cable
restrained at center tension ring, side walls,
proscenium and rigid flat arch, electromechanically driven, is added over wall
panels and behind ceiling. Both are preset
and logic controlled,

Architect
Theatre Consultant
Acoustical Consultant

Taliesin Associated
Architects
George C. Izenour
Vern Knudsen

Total Cost
$4,400,000.
Cost of Stage Machinery & Conversion
500,000.
System including Ceiling Structure
Orchestra Shell
Seating Capacities
Concert Hall
2,320
Opera, Musical Comedy 2,251
Drama (intimate)
1,198 with apron 1,129
Farthest Seat from Stage
Concert 129ft.
Opera
129 It.
Drama
70 ft. with apron 58 ft.

Permanent Tenants
Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Theatre
Guild, includes Scene Shop and Rehearsal Room

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