Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2006 - 67

book
reviews

My most significant problem with the book, however, is
that the author apparently never fully decided for whom he was
writing. Typically, a book of this type is only useful to people
who are actively involved in the planning and design of a performing arts facility. I'm puzzled why Mell devotes the first
eighty-plus pages of a 133-page text to general information
that really would be news only to someone who has never been
involved in funding, planning or building any kind of structure.
Early on, in describing the players in the planning process, he
lists Architect first followed by "Owner (that's you!)" This is
the only clue that he is writing for people who will be clients of
everyone else mentioned in the book. While this might explain
devoting sixty percent of his text to information the rest of us
already know, it makes me wonder how useful this work will
be for the people who actually do design, build, promote and
arrange for funding of theatres.
The manuscript's editing is not good. Grammatical errors
abound (far too many instances of singular subjects with plural verbs), and there are technical discrepancies that render
information confusing or useless. For example, in a discussion
of the design parameters of a coat checkroom, the author tells
us in the text that the rule of thumb is to allow twelve coats per
linear foot of available hanger space. Immediately below the
paragraph, however, a large drawing indicates that one can get
four coats per linear foot. The contradiction is a serious one if
someone actually chooses the wrong standard to calculate the
required size of a cloakroom. If the designer decides to use
the twelve-per-foot figure, the manager of a theatre in a cold
climate who has a sellout in December will have to provide
standing racks somewhere to accommodate all the coats that
won't fit into the undersized cloakroom. Good editing and
proofreading should catch this kind of error. Mell should have
been consulted for the correct allowance.
Performing Arts Facilities is a larger, hardbound book
whose format is more conducive to use as a reference book

THEATRE

DESIGN

TECHNOLOGY
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2006

and has greater potential for people involved in the process of
creating or improving performance spaces. The book is part
of a series called Building Types Basics that Stephen Kliment,
a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a former
editor of Architectural Record, has been putting together as
editor for a number of years. His approach in this series is for
each book to be written and compiled by an individual or, more
often, a group of people whose range of expertise covers the full
spectrum needed for development of the building type.
In the case of this book, Hugh Hardy, a widely respected
architect whose body of work has been extensively published
and recognized, was the principal author and wrote the chapters specific to his expertise. Other chapters were turned over
to people equally proficient in the multitude of special areas
that need to be covered to create a first-rate performance facility.
One drawback of this approach is that, unlike Mell's
book, which is written with one voice, you do sense a slightly
differing approach to communication from chapter to chapter,
but not to the point where the book seems choppy. The benefit
is that the end product is far richer in facts that are helpful for
someone taking on one of these projects. For example, in a
chapter by theatre consultant Richard Pilbrow (and USITT Fellow), he tells us "the human eye cannot discern facial features
if the spectator is seated beyond sixty-five feet from the stage."
He attributes this pithy tidbit to Laurence Olivier. It is an example of a vital, basic, and specifically quantified fact that an
architect engaged in the most schematic levels of design would
need to know to arrange the auditorium in a sensible manner.
He also tells us that this particular phenomenon is the basis of
the creation of overlapping balconies.
Hardy's book is profusely illustrated and, for the most
part, the photos and drawings are large, clear and useful. (In
fairness, Mell's illustrations were handicapped by a book format that is more than thirty percent smaller than Hardy's.)
In the case of Kliment's books, having different authors
for the different specialties implies a team approach to the design of theatrical facilities and eliminates the slight tone of specialist bias that occasionally creeps into Mell's writing. If a consultant
could do the entire process alone, Mell's approach might be
more appropriate. I think Hardy and Kliment, architects who
have had to lead teams on large projects, instinctively understand the necessity of a cooperative consortium of experts.
Even so, Kliment and Hardy should be commended for
the book's relative seamlessness. With so many authors, it
is surprising how well the writing styles flow from chapter
to chapter. The use of detailed descriptions of specific
projects, with architects and consultants clearly listed, is
potentially quite helpful for people using this book at the
beginning of a project. In practice, many in the design professions learn a lot, when taking on work we either haven't

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2006