Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1990 - 54

compurer workshop in rhe spring of
1989, in which undergraduares srudied
learning rheory, rhen developed compurer assisred insrrucrional (CAl) unirs rargered ar specific learner rypes. The
original srudy focused on rhe culrure of
which rhe Chestnur Srreer Thearre was a
parr.
Borrowing from rhe philosophy of
MIT's Media Lab, srudents were expecred ro "demo or die": ro produce a shorr
working demonsrrarion of a learning
unit. Mosr were a minure or rwo in
lengrh. A unir on demographics, for
example, enables a srudent co overlay
maps of rhe ciry, srarring wirh William
Penn's plar, and rrace rhe physical developmenr of rhe rown rhrough 1835. By
pointing rhe cursor ar many parrs of rhe
ciry, demographic dara on rhar parricular
area pops up. The Cosrume Game grew
our of rhis class, as did a projecr ro
reconsrrucr rhe Chestnur Srreer Thearre
as a rhree-dimensional compurer model.
What is inrriguing abour rhe
Philadelphia rhearre scene from 1794 ro
1835 is rhe wealrh of primary source
marerial which survives from rhe period:
maps, prompr scriprs and drawings,
diaries, norebooks and contemporary
hisrories. Whar is challenging is ro find a
way ro present rhis marerial ro rhe curious in some coherent manner.
The decision was made co arrack
rhe problem of organizarion from rwo
direcrions. All rhe drawings would be
digirized ro rhe compurer, while all wrirren marerial would be entered ro a dara
base so rhar ir would be accessible
rhrough cross-reference ro rhe inquiring
scholar.
sing rhe CAD sofrware, undergraduare Krisroff Bauer ser abour compiling a masrer plan of rhe Chesrnur
Srreer Thearre from rhe several views
and plans which survive. All drawings
were digirized ar 1: 1 scale, rhen adjusred
co rhe same size rhrough rescaling.
Bauer's work was aided grearly by rhe
masrer's rhesis of Darcy Sabin Carey
(UW, 1974) which provided working
drawings and a scaled museum model of
rhe building.
Ideally, of course, rhe plans would
be combined inro a 3-D drawing. Bur
rhrough rhe spring and summer of
1989, rhis looked increasing unlikely.
There were rhree facrors working againsr
us:The cosr of mosr 3-D sofrware programs was beyond our means; rhe complexiry of several programs we reviewed
mirigared againsr 3-D; moreover, since
we had already digirized rhe rwo-dimen-

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lithe proiect, when
finished, will enable the
researcher to brownse the
3·D model of the theatre
through a series of preselected views."

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Illustrations (top to bo"om):
Figure 1. Fully clothed mannequin for The

Costume Game (styled after the drawings
of Peter Bucknell in The Evolution of

Fashion).
Figure 2. Selection of wardrobe pieces for

The Costume Game.
Figure 3. CAD drawing of the Bolivar
House attached to the Chestnut Street
Theatre with cutaway walls to show
interior spaces.
Figure 4. Plan view of the left half of the
Chestnut Street Theatre showing the
entrance and lobby.
Figure 5. Three-dimensional elevation
view of the left half of the Chestnut Street
Theatre entrance and lobby.

sional drawings, we needed sofrware rhar
permined an easy flow of dara from 2-D
co 3-D and back again.
In rhe fall of 1989, Generic
Sofrware released Generic 3D Drafting.
Our problems were solved. Generic 3D
Drafting is a srand-alone drawing package, bur is fully comparible wirh Generic
CADD Level 3. Drawing can begin wirhin eirher program, files may be
exchanged freely in eirher direcrion, and
many of rhe same commands are used in
borh programs.
Mosr of our drafring is done using
rhe rwo-dimensional CAD, rhen imporred co rhe 3-D environmenr. The 2-D
drawings enter rhe work space aligned co
rhe 3-D cursor alignment, making ir
possible co bring in a 2-D drawing in
pieces and anach ir easily co appropriare
pans of rhe 3-D drawing. Control of rhe
3-D cursor permirs rorarion around any
axis, and axes may be disabled co permir
alignment co a single plane.
Perhaps norhing so inhibirs working
in rhree dimensions as rhe rhird
dimension, irself. Almosr immediarely,
walls, srairs, windows and orher derails
in rhe building begin co obscure pans of
rhe drawing. Ir is here rhar layer management becomes crucial, for by placing
parrs of rhe drawing on differenr layers,
elements may be hidden (rurned off) co
facilirare drafring work. In rhe porrion of
rhe main floor of rhe Chesrnur Srreer
Thearre shown in Figures 3-5, rhe plan,
columns, lefr wing elevarions and lefr
wing srairs, front wall, front sreps, lobby
parririon and curved lobby srairs are
each on separare layers. Five empry layers
separare each elemenr so rhar derail may
be added as needed on new layers. Holes
and cur-aways are also imporrant fea[Ures which allow porrions of rhe drawing co be seen rhrough orherwise solid
walls and obsrrucrions, and co minimize
clurrer in rhe drawing.
Oprions such as rorarion, layer conrrol, holes and cur-aways, and hidden
line removal provide conrrol in rhe presentarion of rhe drawing. The arrisr is
able co derermine quickly which view
will enable rhe observer besr co undersrand rhe srrucrure, rhen adjusr rhe rhree
dimensional model accordingly.

INTEGRATING TEXT WITH
ARCHITECTURE
In presenri ng rhe evidence and analysis
of rhe rhearre and sociery in Philadelphia
during rhe Federal period, 2-D and 3-D
CAD drawings have been inregrared

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1990