Geometry and Atmosphere: Theatre Buildings from Vision to Reality by Short C. Alan & Barrett Peter & Fair Alistair & Sutrisna Monty

Author:Short, C. Alan & Barrett, Peter & Fair, Alistair & Sutrisna, Monty [Short, C. Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2016-12-05T05:00:00+00:00

Fig. 5.20 The auditorium re-imagined in response to Hamish Glen’s ideas

Fig. 5.21 ‘An industrial space for theatre-makers to transform’

Fig. 5.22 A found space: the seating and staging structure was inserted within the volume of the auditorium

BUILDING THE THEATRE

By the time at which a decision was reached on the auditorium arrangement, construction work was in fact underway. This section of the chapter summarizes the history of the project from the point at which it began on site in the summer of 2005 to its completion in the summer of 2007. Once again, certain themes are to the fore: rising costs, team relationships, and the specificities of programming construction work in the arts sector. Coupled to these themes are the related general issues of joining new buildings to old, and the unpredictability of construction, both of which had significant impacts on the programme and on the way in which the eventual scheme was delivered.

The second half of 2005 was characterized by detailed design work, not least where the revised auditorium was concerned, accompanied by further and repeated Value Engineering exercises as the Belgrade sought to counter constantly rising costs with savings. The process affected all aspects of the design detail, though the overall concept was fiercely guarded. As Pettitt put it:

We as a company have had to re-address the way that we design, to make it appropriate but still give it the strength and power and coherence that’s wanted, but perhaps not with [the] materials and detailing we would first envisage . 115

In contrast to the earlier stages of the project, where Value Engineering was focussed on removing parts of the scope of works, in these later stages cost savings were largely made by changes to materials and finishes. Externally, render and polycarbonate were deployed for their low cost, and the glazing of the new theatre entrance (one of the more expensive elements of the external design) was achieved more cheaply through the ingenious use of a standard system (fig. 5.23 ). Glen became concerned that the reductions were increasingly affecting the quality of the project: ‘the punters … don’t see the M&E [mechanical and electrical] work, they see the finish! ’ 116 But reductions were necessary if the power of the original concept was to be retained, while at this late stage it would have been difficult to remove further spaces or much in the way of technical equipment from the brief without damaging the viability of the completed scheme. The ultimate scope was developed through negotiation with the architects and the contractors, evaluating which elements might be reduced or altered, and which were sacrosanct.

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