Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2012 - 31

honor awards
Honor Awards

were given to the AT&T Performing
Arts Center Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Texas, and
to the Royal Shakespeare & Swan Theatres Transformation, Waterside, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. Both projects displayed the
highest quality of design and execution.
The Wyly Theatre, designed by REX/OMA and the associate architecture firm of Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc., posed
two distinct challenges for the design team. First, how do you
design a shiny new facility that pays homage to the Dallas Theater Center's roots of working in a dilapidated yet flexible galvanized metal shed renowned for being constantly reconfigured?
Second, how do you manage in a tight economy to minimize
DTC's operating expenses while still allowing it to manipulate
the stage configuration at will? Solving these challenges required the design team to creatively rethink some very traditional relationships-the stage and performers to audiences
and the surrounding community.
Led by Joshua Prince-Ramus (partner-in-charge) and Rem
Koolhass, along with Theatre Projects Consultants and acoustical consultant DHV, the theatre's amenities were split into abovethe-house and below-the-house areas, granting unprecedented
perimeter access to the theatrical environment. In this configuration, artistic vision is given complete freedom to permeate the
public's interaction with the space. The $338 million dollar venture created what Theatre Projects dubbed a "theatre machine,"
able to accommodate any configuration necessary for performances. This was no small feat. Each of the seating sections and
balconies can vanish or change configurations at the touch of a
button-today a thrust or arena space, tomorrow a proscenium
or a black box. The additional challenge for the design team was
to ensure that audio, lighting, and rigging systems didn't collide.
Building a "superfly" blurred the lines between stage and auditorium, allowing permanent elements of the theatre to be flown to
get them out of the way, while the rest of the space was changed
to meet the needs of a particular production.
Control of the exterior acoustics and lighting also presented
a significant challenge in the space. Acoustical firm DHV designed
an operable glass enclosure to keep out noise intrusion, as well
as a flexible system of motorized light shades that can be raised
as a group or individually.
Even for its modest size, the Wyly Theatre's exterior,
wrapped in various aluminum extrusions, extends the Dallas
Arts District. The lower level glazing provides active views into
the facility, while allowing audiences to look out at the Dallas
skyline during appropriate performances such as concerts.
The other Honor Award winner, Royal Shakespeare
& Swan Theatres Transformation in Stratford-upon-Avon,
England, was designed by architect Bennetts Associates in collaboration with theatre consultant Charcoalblue and acoustician

spring

Acoustic Dimensions. The main 1,040-seat Royal Shakespeare
Theatre was rebuilt into a modular flexible thrust space providing complete intimacy with the audience, as well as unprecedented scenic capability and acoustic performance. The Swan
Theatre has new flying capability over the stage and now shares
its front of house space with the main theatre.
Innovative new features added during the transformation
include a viewing tower, rethought pedestrian routes between
the town, Bancroft Gardens, Holy Trinity Church, and the River
Avon, and balconies off the dressing rooms overlooking the river.
The theatre's new fly tower is also visible from outside the town,
beckoning to visitors searching for Shakespeare.
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre's art deco features pay
tribute to the 1932 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, while the
renovation brought many new technology enhancements.
Of particular interest are the flexible new lighting positions
which are supported by a series of motorized winches. These
clusters-thirty in total-support automated lighting and are
deployable to over sixty positions around the stage. They can
be rigged from adjacent galleries allowing for a clear space
for scenery changeovers or be lowered to the deck for maintenance. This is a vast improvement on safety, as the technicians
never have to put themselves in precarious positions to adjust
lighting. Everything is controllable from an automation system.
The new space has an extraordinary ceiling height underneath the stage (23´-0˝) with a fully trapped stage deck,
allowing Shakespeare's armies, spears raised, to ascend or descend without having to duck. It also is able to accommodate
large lifts or other scenic machinery. With the change, storage became a concern and was handled through the use of the
original stage's wings, trap room, and fly tower. A new scenic
elevator was installed within the original stage footprint to the
lower level to accommodate scenery changes and storage-
quite useful for a theatre that can run up to four shows in true
repertory with twice daily changeovers.
Rigging also received an upgrade with sixty dual winches
housed around the thrust stage and the upper level each capable
of almost 900 pounds of payload spread across two lines. Each
winch can be operated independently or sistered together to
hoist heavier loads.
Within the audience chamber, sightlines were improved,
and the refurbished seating was reconfigured so that no seat is
farther than fifty feet from the stage. New carpeting was added,
and a new hearing-assist system installed. Access for people
with disabilities was also installed for the first time. Other new
features at the facility include a rooftop restaurant with river
views, a riverside café and terrace, and new exhibit space. The
new Weston Square connects the theatre with the town, as does
a new riverside walk.

2012

theatre design

& technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2012