Designing a theatre

[Tecnical Bradders]

Hi

 

I am a student studeying tecnical thatre, I have chose a unit to work as a tecnical manager, as we are moving venue u have took on the role of desighning a layout of a theatre, in a blang room.

 

I am reasurching differet types/ layouts of plans so they can assist me on drawing up ground plans of theatres.

 

can anyone point me in anydirection on where to start looking??

 

cheers

[gareth]

Your college library? If you're doing a technical theatre course at Barnsley College (as your profile says) the library should have books to support the course -seems like a good place to start. (And you might like to spend some time with a dictionary while you're in there ... if you hope for a career in technical theatre, it's probably best to learn how to spell it.)

[b1nuzz]

Ignoring the speelling issue, as Gareth said, the best place to try would be a library.

 

It should be stocked with all the books that you need for your course. 'Further reading' I believe it is summarised as IIRC.

 

If you cant find any books about, why not visit some theatres. Go and watch some shows. Or remember shows that you have seen.

 

Think about what you liked or didnt like in that specific theatre and write down your ideas. Either just use a certian part that you liked, or if you didnt like it, write down what you didnt like about it and how you could improve on it.

 

Once you have written down all your best bits and your improved worst bits of a theatre, you will have a good idea of how you would like your new space to look. This is time to now start drawing.

 

As your doing it, think about actually being inside the space and not just drawing it. How will it feel, is there enough space to move scaffold towers (if applicable) around the edges of the stage? Is there an easy access route onto the stage? Is there side of stage storage?

 

If you get all these questions right, and you have seen some nice theatres as examples,then you should end up with a pretty nice space.

[Andrew C]

One book that anyone thinking of designing anything should get hold of would be the Metric Handbook - Planning and Design Data. Full of useful stuff like 'How many toilets per user?', and the like. It has a whole chapter on theatre like venues.

 

This and the Yellow Book of course. £25 and £30 from our friends at Amazon - just click on the images.... or go to your school library. The first they are likely to have as it is very useful for D&T courses (where I first met it 30 years ago).

 

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0750608994.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1904031056.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

[boswell]

nb: The Yellow book has been revised and re-issued June 2008, make sure you get the latest!

[w/robe]

I have chose a unit to work as a tecnical manager, as we are moving venue u have took on the role of desighning a layout of a theatre, in a blang room.

 

The first thing I would say is to work out exactly what you are being asking to do.

 

When you say venue/theatre are you talking about just the room or the entire building in which the performance takes place?

What events will be being staged, huge musicals, 1 person shows, club nights?

Do you have a theoretical budget? (I assume they are not actually letting you loose in the real world and that this is just a theoretical project)

Is this a huge project to spend all summer and next semester on or is it this weeks homework?

 

One of the things that I sometimes find when marking students work is that they go off, and may work very hard, on an interesting tangent but in these days of marking criteria if they have not covered all the bases their marks suffer. Make sure you are giving them what they have asked for.

[Jerome]

As a member on the same course as brad I can possibly help you out on your answer to his question. THe course does let us out in the real world however the theatre we produce and work on is in many different forms I.e Musicals, Promenade, Acting and dance shows we do the lot. Our new venue is a very large sports hall being converted into a theatre by Northern Stage I believe. Its more like an arena even though we detest the name. We call it the shed as a joke. With bradley taking the technical management subject for his specialism in the field he has to run this building exactly as any person would in the real world. That venue is his in a sense and he is responsible of which I can inform you he would be very good at. I can see though where he may think he needs guidance in drawing plans, I've had none myself except for LX designs. Making official plans for theatres I'm sure are more architectural but people in the industry make them. He would have to make them of the entire room. The college resources are limited in some senses as we are not the highest funded department being placed under Performing Arts. I know he would buy the books if they were there somewhere as would I. If anyone has any plans they could show on here as a jpeg of some discription that would be useful to see how you have done it.

 

Hope this helps ya brad.

 

Jerome

[w/robe]

OH MY WORD

I hope what you've just written is not actually true.

 

I imagine that Northern Stage are being employed as consultants by the college and that they are not actually expecting your friend to turn up with a set of plans and then they will do what he asks. That is certainly not what a real technical manager would be expected to do.

 

If what you have said is true (and I'm sure it can not be) then his first task should be to draw up a brief and then find a consultant to take the design of the space forward.

[paulears]

You do not need to buy the books. Your College has agreed that they will resource the course you are on with the people who certificate the programme, so if the library doesn't have the books you need (and they are in the suggested reading list in the specification - you do have this, don't you? If not you can get it on-line) - show this to the librarian and if they haven't got them, you will almost certainly find they will order it for you - many college librarians have funds available, but nobdy ever asks them which books to order!

 

There isn't a specific book suggested for learning how to draw plans, however all you need to know is how to read plans and draw simple ones, so that means scales - common conventions such as the right terminology, so Plan View="Bird's eye view" (hate that for some reason) Elevations - the side views, either from outside, or Sections through a building. Most drawings will be 2D so they're not too bad. 3D views can be isometrics or obliques, or can be perspective (but remember perspective makes measurements 'into' the drawing tricky!

 

All these conventions are Googlable, and just need putting into a performing arts context. You do NOT need to have CAD or proper technical drawing skills to get a decent grade. The plans must just be fit for the purpose, that's all.

 

My guess is that important areas for the plans you produce for the course have to do with the following items which students always have trouble with.

 

Estimation and common sense. If your plan shows the dance studio as being 30m x 2.5m, something isn't correct.

Doors - 500mm wide doorways are awkward to get through, as are those 1.5m tall

Room height - often either too high or too low

Fire exits - check doors open the correct way

Corridors - how wide for the traffic

Toilets - quantity and sex

Showers

Eating and drinking areas

Storage

 

Designing a theatre building is a common assignment, and daft though it may seem all the things above are frequently messed up badly by students on plans.

 

Your lecturers like straight lines drawn with rulers, they don't like freehand and lined A4 paper. pencil is usually fine, blobby biro not so. Joined up writing is also a no-no. In most cases, all these things have been written down for you, or explained verbally.

 

Some of this might help, but I can guarantee that if this is a BTEC, then the stuff above is pretty critical.

P

[Jerome]

OH MY WORD

I hope what you've just written is not actually true.

 

I imagine that Northern Stage are being employed as consultants by the college and that they are not actually expecting your friend to turn up with a set of plans and then they will do what he asks. That is certainly not what a real technical manager would be expected to do.

 

If what you have said is true (and I'm sure it can not be) then his first task should be to draw up a brief and then find a consultant to take the design of the space forward.

 

No Northern stage aren't expecting him to have plans. I was talking about when the building was finished and we eventually put a performance on. Then he will be expected to make shows for that specific production.

[Tecnical Bradders]

Hi

 

Basically we end up with a black box, surrounded with black wool surge. From there I have the opportunity to do anything I require.

 

I require information/ research on theatre layouts. To improve my grade I am required to technical draw plans. I have drawn plans before but the opportunity to produce layouts of a theatre will boost my grade highly. Again our library has little recourses to the layout of theatres.

 

I am starting to think about layouts over the summer break for our first show back, which is a selection of variety, dance, acting , music etc. I have had many ideas’s already on how to set the layout for this production and was asking for tips etc.

 

I will design the stage itself for the requirements the lighting grid to be flown on our motors, the FOH area and the dressing/. changing area. I am forward planning a lot so I can gather info up and get my idea’s down on paper.

 

All work is checked by out qualified tutors for Health and Safety etc then graded from there etc.

 

Any tips etc on layouts and drawings would be most welcome, hope this clears your issues up.

 

and sorry for the spellings I am highly dyslexic,

 

Cheers

 

Brad

[Ben Langfeld]

and sorry for the spellings I am highly dyslexic,

 

Probably not wise to open that can of worms again. A quick search will reveal why.

 

Can you just clarify that there would be no permanent install for the venue and that everything would be setup temporarily for each performance? This changes a lot. You are then not designing the building but simply choosing where to put objects in it.

[Ynot]

I also feel that the previous post from the OP makes a HUGE difference to the question in hand. (Also agree that playing the dyslexia card is pretty dangerous... :) ).

 

My original thoughts on what you were asking were that you were trying to design a physical building, whether for theoretical or actual build is academic for now. What you describe now is something totally different, and sounds very much akin to a box-within-a-box type of thing. I'll make an assumption here and guess that the complex you're maybe designing will be a temporary affair, and not there as a fully permanent structure....?

 

If that IS the case then you have many more constraints upon you, some of which will be dictated by the physical layout of the existing black box - ie positions of main exits, mains power incomers, hanging/flying points in the grid and suitable ratings etc, and all the other stuff, whether domestic or theatrical that go together in any structure.

 

So all that means that this is one of those questions that cannot really be answered here without a heck of a lot more info, and then if we did answer your queries in detail, well, then we'd be doing your homework for you.....

Which is another thing that you're really on dangerous ground with on this forum! ;)

[dizzidido4]

Hi Brad. Not sure whether I've met you yet or not? I used to go Barnsley College on same course as well. It is a bit difficult to understand exactly what fletch and Lee have got ya doing here... ha nothing new. Is everything being installed then you decide a type of staging and seating area within the studio for a specific show or for most shows? Or do you also get to choose where the equipment i.e. speakers, lighting bars, etc. go permanantly? Do you have to work round them?

 

More to the point what help do you actually need? I think you're basically asking for advice on any materials you could get your hands on to produce a decent plan with research to back it up?

 

Diane