Virtual Reality in Theatre Spaces
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VIRTUAL REALITY IN THEATRE SPACES by Sherouk Mohamed Shehab El Din Saad Badr A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in ARCHITECTURE ENGINEERING FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, CAIRO UNIVERSTIY GIZA, EGYPT 2012 VIRTUAL REALITY IN THEATRE SPACES by Sherouk Mohamed Shehab El Din Saad Badr A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in ARCHITECTURE ENGINEERING Under the Supervision of: Prof. Dr. Mohamed Moemen Afifi Prof. Dr. Ayman Hassan Ahmed Professor of Architecture Professor of Architecture Cairo University Cairo University Faculty of Engineering Faculty of Engineering FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, CAIRO UNIVERSTIY GIZA, EGYPT 2012 VIRTUAL REALITY IN THEATRE SPACES by Sherouk Mohamed Shehab El Din Saad Badr A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE In ARCHITECTURE ENGINEERING Approved by the Examining Committee Prof. Dr. Mohamed Moemen Gamal el Din Afify, Thesis Main Advisor Prof. Dr. Ayman Hassan Ahmed Mahmoud, Thesis Advisor Prof. Dr. Khaled Mohamed Ragheb Dewidar, Member Prof. Dr. Mohamed Medhat Hasan Dorra, Member FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, CAIRO UNIVERSTIY GIZA, EGYPT 2012 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First I would like to thank my dear grandfather, Dr Mohamed Mahmoud El Emam, for being so supportive and encouraging in this study and also for helping me in translating and analyzing highly specialized and complicated papers and theses. Also I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Momen Afif and Dr Ayman Hassan for accepting the thesis subject and giving me such chance to study into two more fields rather than architecture; theater and technology. And thanks to Dr Sherif Morad who was very supportive by his open discussions about the thesis subject. I would like to thank all my colleagues in the college theater team; Eng Nassar, Eng Hossam, Eng Karim, Eng Mostafa and all the rest of the team for what they have taught me about theater scenoghraphy, stage setting and design, lighting, casting and even directing. I would like to send my special thanks to the VR Center in UCL; Eng Ava Fatah and Dr. David for accepting my visit request during my stay in England, supporting me by valuable data for my study and allowing me to access all the UCL libraries. And in the end, I would like to thank my family, my mum specially, for her support care and love. As for my dear husband, I owe him dozens of thanks and respect for his great support, encouragement, care, patience and sacrifice during the whole period of my study. And for my little daughter, I thank her for giving me such energy to complete my study like supplying an old toy doll with new batteries! I TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................. I TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................II LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................................X LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................................................... XV ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... XVIII INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................XIX UNIT ONE: THEATER SPACES................................................................................................................1 1. CHAPTER (1): HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THEATER TYPES..........................................................1 1.1. Theater Main Elements......................................................................................................................2 1.2. Theater Types according to Stage & Auditorium ..............................................................................4 1.2.1. Fully Enveloping Auditorium: .............................................................................................................. 8 1.2.1.1. Theater-In-The-Round .............................................................................................................. 8 1.2.2. Partially Enveloping Auditorium: ........................................................................................................12 1.2.2.1. Greek Amphitheaters ...............................................................................................................12 1.2.2.2. Open Trust Stage .....................................................................................................................14 1.2.2.3. Corner Stage 90 ° arc ...............................................................................................................19 1.2.3. Non Enveloping Auditorium:...............................................................................................................21 1.2.3.1. Roman Theaters .......................................................................................................................21 1.2.3.2. Vista Stage...............................................................................................................................25 1.2.3.3. Shoebox Hall............................................................................................................................27 1.2.4. Horseshoe-Shaped Auditorium: ...........................................................................................................29 1.2.4.1. Proscenium Stage.....................................................................................................................29 1.2.4.2. horse-Shoe Shaped Auditorium: ..............................................................................................32 II 1.2.5. Fan-Shaped Auditorium: ......................................................................................................................33 1.2.5.1. Fan-Shaped Auditorium...........................................................................................................33 1.2.5.2. Apron, Caliper Stage................................................................................................................36 1.2.6. Convertible Auditorium and Multiform Stage: ....................................................................................38 1.3. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................40 2. CHAPTER (2): PRINCIPLES THAT INFLUENCE AUDITORIUM DESIGN ........................................................43 2.1. Positioning and seating the audience ..............................................................................................45 2.1.1. Seat Count:...........................................................................................................................................45 2.1.2. Plan Arrangement:................................................................................................................................47 2.1.2.1. Distances..................................................................................................................................47 2.1.2.2. House Width ............................................................................................................................48 2.1.2.3. Seating Geometry ....................................................................................................................49 2.1.3. Vertical Arrangement:..........................................................................................................................51 2.1.3.1. Stage Elevation ........................................................................................................................52 2.1.3.2. Vertical Sightlines....................................................................................................................52 2.2. Acoustic considerations...................................................................................................................56 2.2.1. Type of production...............................................................................................................................56 2.2.1.1. Room For Speech Auditorium .................................................................................................56 2.2.1.2. Room For Music auditorium....................................................................................................56 2.2.1.3. Room For Multipurpose Auditorium .......................................................................................57 2.2.2. Reverberation Time..............................................................................................................................58 2.2.3. Finishes ................................................................................................................................................59 2.2.4. Quality of the sound .............................................................................................................................60 2.2.5. Room