Course Descrption

Theater design, in all its conceptual and historical depth, can be approached in many different ways. This studio will be based on physical contact with the building type and the experience of its dizzying spaces and equipment. Field trips, loosely associated with preliminary exercises, will introduce students to two existing examples. The intent of these excursions is not only to become familiar with the scale, volume and equipment of the theater program, but more importantly to discover the tremendous potential latent in this building type.

Common throughout Austin, the 500 seat multi-use theater, contains a rich set of fundamental spatial and technical conditions that will be used as basis for the creation of new and experimental building forms. The intent of the studio is not to repeat or even improve upon this building type.

The program, is composed of two unusual rooms (House and Stage) divided by a frame (Proscenium). The house, with its multivalent skin, tends toward the static and biomorphic while the stage, in many ways its opposite, is dynamic, Cartesian and mechanical.

The course will begin with 3 exercises aimed at exploring the spatial, structural and formal aspects of these basic components. The final project will grow out of the exercises into a complete and coherent site and building design. In the final project, students will design a 16,000sf flexible public theater 'multiplex'. This small building will be sited downtown in an urban park, a full city block. Although park design is not central to this studio it is expected that the land-forms and civil works will be integral and interwoven with building design.

This building will accommodate both the high and low brow, summer reruns of Team America and contemporary theatrical performances in a public park setting.

Grading

Establishing grades for projects of a creative nature is a more complex matter than grading in other academic areas. While each project contains certain quantifiable elements by which it may be evaluated, a significant portion of each grade is derived from a broader, more subjective set of issues.

Grading for studio courses is broken into three components for each given mark:
1/3 grasp (ideas combined with an appropriate process of inquiry),
1/3 process (the consistent and rigorous development and testing of ideas) and
1/3 resolution (the understanding of the project at hand and its architectural implications). Your work will be evaluated on its rigor and evolution over the semester.

Summary of Exercises

Exercise 1 - mle - miniature light environment
Duration: Approximately 1 week
Field Trip: Trip to Gear
Product: model
This is an exercise in the construction of an illusion. Each student will con- struct and experiment with a miniature light environment. Using an assigned volume size, students will construct identical opaque 3 dimensional frames. Each box will contain an opening with a cinemascope aspect ratio. Using a range of materials from, diffusion to color gels, colored light environments will be created within each box. The boxes will be lit with standard light bulbs available from any building supply megastore. Individual lightscapes may have the goal of depicting the illusion of infinite depth, others a midday sky. Representation will be discussed. Construction diagrams will be provide by the instructor upon our first meeting.

Exercise 2 - Fly Wall/Curtain Wall
Duration: Approximately 2 weeks
Field trip: Theater No. 1
Product: model/elevation drawing
The form and structure of the theatrical rigging kit will be studied and used as a basis for a spatial/structural exercise. Flyable curtain wall forms, both standing and hanging will be explored both as fabric and solidified folded planes.

Exercise 3 - Double Shell
Duration: Approximately. 2 weeks
Field trip: Theater No. 2
Product: model and horizontal and vertical section drawings
In this exercise, the site will be introduced, and the volume of the house and its peripheral interstitial spaces will be explored. The double shell concept will be used as a point of departure. During this exercise, students will de- velop a grasp of the volume of the house and be introduced to the forces that effect its shape ranging from acoustics to structure and circulation. The spatial relationship between the outer and inner shells, between structure and skin, outer and inner worlds will be explored. Masking, curtain forms, scaled nesting forms, acoustical baffles, structural fins, earthwork and cut and fill will be discussed and utilized. The ground plane will be modeled and become an integral part of the double shell envelope.

Final Project - Multiplex
Duration: Approximately 10 weeks
Field trip: Site.
Students will design a 500 seat, 16,000 SF theater, including interior and ex- terior assembly areas in downtown park. A complete building and site program will be provided.