It's funny how, sometimes, the same new problem pops up at the same time in completely unrelated projects. I was recently working on a design for an outdoor venue for a standing audience. At the same time I was reviewing the crowd barrier arrangement in an indoor venue. And for a third project I was …
Just as travelling is one of the most carbon-intensive aspects of life, the travel and transport associated with touring shows is a major contributor to the carbon footprint of the performing arts industries. So when I recently came across an AI tool which was used by North America 2026 in their successful bid for the …
Continue reading Using AI to reduce the carbon footprint of touring
The Bridge Theatre Since opening in October 2017 The Bridge has hosted seven productions by the new London Theatre Company, the latest being a new stage adaptation of Harriet Lane's book Alys, Always. The book (I understand from synopses although - disclaimer - I've not read it) tells the story of Frances the Newspaper Sub-Editor who, caught …
I'm currently helping to design a theatre in Knowsley, near Liverpool. It's a reconstruction of one of the earliest-recorded indoor theatres in the UK, the 16th-17th century Cockpit-In-Court. The working title is Shakespeare North and it's a fascinating project. I've enjoyed learning about what we know (answer: very little) and what we need to speculate …
Continue reading What’s the point in Reconstructed Theatres?
I've just come back from ITEAC 2018 - a conference which runs every four years exploring current trends in theatre building design. Here's my favourite (or most future-useful) quotes while they're fresh in my mind. [These are all paraphrased via my scribbled notes. Happy to correct if I have misquoted.] "In the cinema you need …
What would the ideal theatre look like? As designers of venue buildings it is a question we often ask ourselves. We ask ourselves the big questions, like how would an ideal building engage with the local community and how would foyers help with the visitor experience. And more than this, we spend time making technical …
I have a sore neck. It pains me to say this (figuratively - although probably literally too if I was talking to you out loud). It pains me to say this because my ailment is the result of uncomfortable theatre seating, and I've always harboured secret disdain for anyone who takes too much interest in …
Continue reading Should theatre seating ever be comfortable?
A few days ago, whilst working on a building design, I was reminded of a previously forgotten memory of going to Sunday school as a child, and being taught that a church is a group of people - not a building. This is, of course, an adage that can be said of any building that …
Continue reading Why we build venues – why are all the people missing and do critics care?
People often ask me how I got into performance space design. This is not really the story of how, but rather what exactly got me interested in the first place... Architects like a metaphor. During perhaps as many as half of the new concert hall projects I work on, at some point the architect will …
Pershing Square Signature Center, Alice Griffin Theatre The Signature Centre produces new writing. Their latest piece The Whirligig by recently-turned-playwright Hamish Linklater takes its name from a line in Twelfth Night: "The whirligig of time brings in his revenges". What goes around comes around, in modern language. And quite literally so - Derek McLane's design sits …
