Buildings for the Performing Arts This page intentionally left blank Buildings for the Performing Arts A design and development guide Second Edition Ian Appleton AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Architectural Architectural Press is an imprint of Elsevier Press Architectural Press is an imprint of Elsevier Ltd Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP 30 Corporate Road, Burlington, MA 01803 First published 1996 Reprinted 1997 Second edition 2008 Copyright © 2008 Ian Appleton. Published by Elsevier Limited. 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Alternatively you can submit your request online by visiting the Elsevier web site at http://elsevier.com/locate/ permissions, and selecting Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material Notice No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons to property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Becuse or rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN: 978 0 7506 6835 4 For information on all Academic Press publications visit our web site at books.elsevier.com Typeset by Charon Tec Ltd (A Macmillan Company), Chennai, India www.charontec.com Printed and bound in Italy Contents Preface vii Preface to new edition xi Part One The Context 1 1 Introduction 3 2 Types of production 7 3 Audiences 13 4 Types of client 17 5 Building types 21 Part Two Approach to Design and Development 65 6 Design and development 67 7 The client 69 8 Consultants 75 9 Stages in design and development 77 Part Three Specific Studies 95 10 Audiences, companies and staff 97 11 Site considerations 101 12 Initial brief: Auditorium and platform/stage 105 13 Initial brief: Support facilities 161 14 Initial brief: Spaces for children and young persons 205 15 Initial brief: Existing buildings for the performing arts 215 16 Building design 229 17 Time-scale 255 18 Financial appraisal 257 Appendix 1 References and sources of information 263 Appendix 2 Main consultants and clients’ advisors 267 Index 273 This page intentionally left blank Preface An aspect of the quality of urban and rural life is the standards required within those processes. The design provision of places where people can gather in formal and development processes can be described as a pro- and informal settings. Buildings for the performing gression of defined, but maybe overlapping, stages, arts, at the different scales from metropolitan to local, whereas the same information can be used within dif- contribute to a pattern of provision with places for peo- ferent stages and at different times, and cannot be ple to gather and appreciate performances of music, weighted towards, or selected exclusively within, a dance, drama and so on. This Design and Development particular stage. As examples, the calculation of sight- Guide is concerned with the realization and design of lines in an auditorium features in the initial stages to the different building types covering facilities for a establish seating numbers as well as during the range of performing arts. detailed design stage of the auditorium: the standards Architectural design consists of establishing a mul- for dressing-room layouts do not change through the tiplicity of information, the resolution of apparently evolution of the design. conflicting issues and the application of appropriate Also there is no single approach to the process of technologies to satisfy particular social aims. Most design and development. The content of this Guide situations are complex and buildings for the perform- should not be seen, or used, as a rigid set of instruc- ing arts are no exception. Indeed the geometry of the tions but rather as a broad framework which can be auditorium and performance area, the extent of serv- adapted to suit individual requirements. ices, the technical necessities, and the public expecta- A building for the performing arts is designed and tions make these particular building types even more developed at a period within the evolution of the par- complex than the majority. The main purpose of this ticular art form and technological advancement. Guide is to provide those involved in a building proj- There is a wide and expanding set of building types as ect – client, users, and members of the design team a consequence of an increasing number of performers (the architect and specialist consultants) – with a wishing to perform. The client, as the usual initiator framework and checklist to help them communicate of a project, should not become locked into a solution more effectively to produce an appropriate solution to by immediate reference to a particular building type a particular problem. such as a concert hall, as a detailed examination of the For every building type there is a wide range of local conditions may suggest another type. In this variables: a building may be large or small, simple or respect this guide places an emphasis on feasibility: complex; the client may be a public body, institution, that is, for the client, with appropriate advice, to eval- trust, commercial organization or group of volun- uate demand, resources and support to ensure viability teers; those involved as clients may be experienced or before progressing with the project. inexperienced in the process of achieving a new or Guidance is directed towards the main partici- adapted building; the design team can vary in size pants in the process of design and development. It is and skills, and may or may not have experience with not always possible to distinguish between that the particular building type; each design team will which is specifically for the client and that which is have their individual method of working. It is diffi- the responsibility of others. Whenever possible an cult to cover the various combinations in detail to indication is given of who is most likely to be respon- provide guidelines for all clients, users and design sible for a particular aspect but it is something to be teams. There is an inevitable concentration in this determined by those involved in each project. Guide towards certain situations. In spite of this, it The world of the performing arts is full of strong could be used for not only the simplest but also the views held by experienced and articulate professionals most complex of projects. including managers, technicians and performers, as A distinction is made between the processes of well as directors, conductors, choreographers, com- design and briefing, and the information on design posers, writers, designers and so on: while buildings for viii Preface the performing arts are required to satisfy the expecta- of Leslie Fairweather. Material on buildings for the per- tions of a knowledgeable public, architectural critics, forming arts was provided by Peter Moro, Roderick theatre critics, urbanists, planners, historians, theorists Ham and myself. One consequence has been the publi- and those for whom the building is just part of their cation of Theatre Planning, edited by Roderick Ham, everyday backdrop. Committing descriptions to paper, and a second is this publication, which acknowledges a even in the simple form of checklists and alternatives, wider range of building types and accommodates the will not satisfy all views and will, no doubt, encourage process of design and development. Over the years var- disagreements. Such publications as this tend to ious people have contributed directly, indirectly and encourage generalizations which should not to be con- sometimes inadvertently to this publication; they fused with the reality of building design and are not a include theatre consultants, architects, engineers, substitute for the skills and dedication required for the technicians, theatre and concert hall managers, design- resolution of inevitable problems. ers, performers, cultural economists, teachers of the This Guide is divided into three parts: Part One performing arts and the librarians at The Arts Council The Context provides background information about of England and the Scottish Arts Council. Roy the organization of the performing arts, some of the McQueen (Scottish Chamber Orchestra), Roger Spence prevailing issues, the client types and the various (Assembly Direct), Moira McKenzie (Usher Hall), Barry building types covered by this guide. Wright (Regular Music) and Julian Sleath (Scottish Part Two Approach to Design and Development Opera) provided specific information and references. identifies the roles of the client, advisors and con- Dr Roger Savage of Edinburgh University oversaw the sultants; the stages to be achieved including client’s definitions of performing arts and any historical refer- proposal, feasibility, the processes of briefing, design ences and provided infectious enthusiasm for all forms and building, and, eventually, hand-over and opening of performance, while Sally Stote of the Arts Council night, with a consideration of the building when in kindly checked a version of the text. Brian Martin of use. Provision for children and young persons and the Arts Management Training Initiative Scotland pro- briefing of existing buildings for the performing arts vided contacts, references and interest.