Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1992 - 53

Guidelines
for
Audience
Safety and
Design
for the

Small
Flexible
Theatre
TOM

MAC IE

mall flexible theatres, such
as black box theatres, studio
theatres, or found theatre
spaces, offer the advantage
of an inrimate ambiance
and a range of design possibilities for a
modest production budget. However, a
haphazard attempt to optimize audience
capaci ty or space for the stage design can
subject the theatre to overcrowded conditions. Seating beyond capacity can also
promote inadequate aisles and obstructed
access to exits.
Flexible theatres with temporary seating are especially problematic as seating
arrangements can change for each production. Changing seating plans and exit
routes increases the likelihood that audience safety may not be planned consistently. Flexible seating can presenr a
problem as simple as confusing a regular
theatre-goer with unfamiliar escape
roLItes.
Firefighters maintain that people in
fires are subjected to a number of obstacles, including a large amount of carbon
monoxide, which quickly affects proper
reasoning. A person would do well to
find a door. Unless audience safety
requirements are rourinely figured into
the production's stage design, an unexpectedly dangerous situation will result.
Information concerning proper safety
practices for rooms used as small flexible
theatres is addressed in the Life Safety
Code Handbook published by the Tational Fire Protection Association ( FPA).
"Formerly known as the Building Exits
Code, the Code is prepared by the NFPA
Committee on Safety to Life" ( FPA xi).
The Life Safety Code addresses the issue
of fire safety for new and existing Structures. The NFPA acknowledges that "a
code cannot be written to cover every situation that will be encountered; thus, it
must be applied with judgment and used
with good sense and with an awareness of
the rationale for the requirements that
must be enforced" ( FPA xi).
It is the duty of local legislative bodies
to decide which portions of this suggested
code to adopt. Local fire codes may fall
shorr or exceed this code. Some of the

requiremems cited in this article have conditions and exceptions that apply to particular situations. Consult the proper local
authorities (e.g., local fire departmem, local building inspector, or campus safety
office), before any fire safety consideration.
The Life Safety Code addresses specific
issues regarding rooms used as flexible
theatres in new structUres and existing
structures. When renovating a room for
use as a flexible theatre, the Life SafelJ'
Code reclassi fies the room to the more
stringent "new" occupancy classification.
In this case it is the responsibility of the
architect or planner to comply with local
building codes, and the local building
inspecror to enforce these codes. This
article examines the requiremenrs for
rooms that are existing as flexible theatres
that are not subject to official scrLItiny.
The fundamental requirements of the
Life Saftty Code that are applicable to the
small flexible theatre are:
1.

To provide for adequate exits
without dependence on any
single safeguard ...
4. To ensure that exits are clear,
unobstructed, and unlocked
5. To ensure that exits and routes
of escape are clearly marked so
that there is no confusion in
reaching an exit area
6. To provide adequate lightmg ...
8. To provide backup or redundant exit arrangements ...
10. To make allowances for those
design criteria that go beyond
the Code provisions and are
tailored to the normal use and
needs of the occupancy In
question (NFPA 15).
An existing flexible theatre with
"an occupant load of 50 or more
but not greater than 300 persons"
(NFPA 373), that exists within a
larger structure is a Class C, "existing assembly occupancy" (NFPA

365).
Occupancy of any room or space
TD&T

1992 FAll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1992