Theatre Plant Design – Who’s Watching the Hen House?

Few Architects or School Administrators truly understand the inner workings of theatres or lecture halls as a production space. Most of the public think that "elves and fairies come in the night" and put on a show. Rarely do they comprehend the enormous planning, design, and custom construction that goes into mounting a show, let alone the planning, design, and construction of the facility to support this effort. They have little concept of the tools required for the task, yet they are typically the ones that make the major decisions about how the venue will be designed. The Theatre Plant is a tool of enormous complexity and is very difficult to design. I have heard many Architects, Engineers, and Contractors tell me that the only building that is more difficult to design and construct is a hospital.

Ask most drama instructors if they like their theatre, or if they think it is well designed, and you'll probably get a four or five hour tirade casting aspersions about the Architects' ancestry. The number of poorly designed (and frequently unsafe) assembly spaces that we see perpetrated on unsuspecting clients is astounding. Harsh words? Yes, but don’t shoot the messenger. With a little insight it is usually quite easy to understand their frustrations. Little or no storage, noisy rooms, inadequate power, poor sightlines, antiquated technologies for Sound, Lighting, and Rigging may start the list. Then there are safety issues — how do you teach students to run shows safely if their equipment is in tatters and was designed for the contractor’s convenience, not the users’ well-being? There is little value in bad design, and great sums to be paid lawyers and plaintiffs should an accident occur.

So, how do you fend-off a bad theatre before it is designed? Who is going to design and specify the technical production systems? Who is going to see that they are installed correctly? A system of check & balances must be established to ensure that the production requirements of a theatre space are not trampled by overzealous, yet well intentioned, architects, engineers, and building contractors.

· Stage Lighting is not taught in Electrical Engineering School - Should the project electrical engineer be allowed to do it?

· Stage Rigging is not taught in Mechanical Engineering School - Should the project structural engineer be saddled with it?

· Stage Draperies are vastly different than commercial interiors draperies - Should the project interior designer be given the task?

These same questions can, and should, be asked about all of the technical production systems: Sound, Video, Production Intercom, Dimming, Pit Fillers, Stage Floors, Dressing Room layouts, Lighting and Rigging Catwalks, Orchestra Lifts, Seating Plans, Scene Shop and Control Booth layouts. Each is a unique adaptation of art, science, and production usage that must be made to function optimally within the context of a working theatre.

Theatre Consulting is a niche industry that is not well understood. The very nature of the Theatre Consultant's role in the design process is a multifaceted interweaving of almost every other discipline involved in the project. When you design a theatre plant, you have to assess every aspect of each item in the building and ask how will it affect the audience’s perception of the facility and the shows within it; how will it affect those trying to produce the show, and how will it affect the performers. This can be very time intensive, as the smallest of seemingly insignificant details can really affect the success of the end product. Misplaced lights, shiny surfaces in the wrong place, clattering door hardware, and a myriad of other items can all detract from the audience’s enjoyment and immersion in the show.

Communicating the value and impact of this type of service to a prospective client can be complicated and time consuming. There are not very many companies that provide these services, and very few that fully integrate their services with acoustics, noise control, and audio-visual design. We recognize that the education of potential clients is a task we must do and accept it as part of our work.

One of the first questions that is frequently raised is: “Who’s going to pay for this ‘extra’ consultant?” The standard Owner-Architect contracts can accommodate the fees of a variety of specialty consultants being passed-through to the client. This is reasonable since Architects can't be expected to know all things. Unfortunately, most Owners and Architects don't take advantage of these accommodations effectively when considering theatre consulting services. This is strange because it is very common for a School to hire special kitchen consultants for their food service areas, or specialty landscaping consultants for their sports playing fields – so why not employ a specialist for the theatre when planning a performing arts center?

Many Architects immediately think they'll have to take a hit on their established fees and fail to explore the options available. Likewise, if the Owner is approached about the concept, they may be naive enough to think that their Architect must know all that is necessary to effectively execute the project. This is mostly a client education task, but it can sometimes be very difficult to communicate this information to a potential client without offending them and/or the Architect. Some Architects have a very difficult time admitting (either to themselves or to their clients) that they don’t know enough about theatres to design one without extra assistance. Others have designed many theatres thinking that they have done a wonderful job, and it never crosses their mind that their projects are functional disasters and new facilities could be vastly improved if they would involve someone knowledgeable about the inner workings of a theatre.

Many Architects don’t understand the time savings a Theatre Consultant can bring to their project, so they don’t see the value of the fees. The early involvement of an experienced consultant can help the design team from going down dead-end design paths. One of the common errors we see are projects where the Architect and Owner have designed the facility the way they think it should be, have set a budget, and then seek-out a consultant and ask them to “make it work”. Designing around bad architecture and forcing systems to fit into awkward spaces and within ill-conceived funding is both time-consuming and frustrating.

It is much easier for everyone if the Theatre Consultant (and acoustician, if this is a separate consultant) to be involved from the very first planning meetings. They will ask questions, suggest ideas, and provide guidance that can help focus the project towards a functional layout and a realistic budget that will be productive for all that will use the venue.

To be continued . . . see “The Myth of the Freebie” post to follow.