Architects: Pearce Brinkley Cease + Lee
Location: Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA
Client: City of Rocky Mount
Project Team: Jeffrey Lee, Irvin Pearce, David Francis, Rob Harkey, Henry Newell
Size: 35,000 SF / 300 seats
Photographs: JWest Productions

The site for the Imperial Centre Theatre is across an abandoned street from the historically significant Imperial Tobacco Company cigarette factory in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. This site, which has been a city park for the past century, was formerly occupied by a public swimming pool. The Imperial Centre Theatre is linked to the larger complex by an enclosed bridge that spans over the abandoned roadway. This bridge is designed to allow the presence of the historically significant street to be understood while minimizing the impact on the character of the original buildings. The structure and plan alignment of the bridge were derived from the existing overhead gantry previously used for transporting coal to the central boilers. The Imperial Centre Theatre seats 300 people in a surprisingly intimate relation to the stage.

Parterres, containing movable seats, flank a central zone of stepped stadium-type seating. Tech balconies align with the upper sides of the theater. The spot booth is located at the rear, above the control room. Two catwalks span the space. The stage has a width of 35 feet and a clear depth of 36 feet with the capacity of 45 line sets. Rigging access is stage left at the arbor pit. Extended wing space is provided stage right. An orchestra pit with capacity for 25-30 musicians fronts the stage. Directly behind the stage is a set workshop and loading dock. A wardrobe shop, star dressing rooms and green room/lounge are located at stage level. Larger dressing rooms are located below the stage. The lobby is located to the side of the theater as opposed to a more traditional entry configuration. This strategy allows for room on the site to create an outdoor terrace as an extension of the lobby. It also provides a readily apparent front facade and clear point of entry. The lobby and access corridor are both partially defined by large transparent curtain wall assemblies. These spaces showcase patron activity and provide visual connections to the outdoors.

“Linking city to river promenade, the new Beethoven Symphony Hall rises – a beacon of light, a porous multifaceted crystalline mass,  growing out of earth,  floating on water. This iconic structure, its two embedded performance spaces softly visible from without, becomes a ‘performer’ in its own right after dark. ”   Zaha Hadid Architects

Architects: NSMH / Nevzat Sayın
Locatıon: Istanbul, Turkey
Project Team: Umut Durmus, Neslı Kayalı, Fatma Olgac, Ahmet Korfalı, Sınem Cerrah
Structural Engıneer: Arce / Necatı Celtıkcı
Electrıcal Engıneer: Enkom / Belgın Merey
Mechanıcal Engıneer: Okutan Muhendıslık
Acoustıcal Engıneer: Team Fores / Turker Talayman
Clıent: Sakıp Sabancı Museum
Contractor: Onder Insaat
Project Area: 2,000 sqm
Project Year: 2007
Constructıon Year: 2008-2009
Photographs: Cemal Emden, NSMH

The Bosphorus in Istanbul, which expresses most sharply the divide between Asia and Europe, is one of the places that must be preserved unchanged with the boats both large and small that go through it and the fabric that surrounds it. In fact, its surroundings should be slightly weeded out, thinned down, cleaned up. For this reason, it would be best if buildings to be constructed in this area be, to the greatest extent possible, composed, set back, and almost invisible. Therefore, when we started working on a ‘concert hall for chamber orchestra’ in this area, to be located on a museum campus situated almost immediately on the shore of the Bosphorus, we knew that we had to design an invisible building. It should not be seen unless pointed out, mentioned, or visited: We decided to build a structure underground…

We were willing to be squeezed among the roots of the precious existing trees, the foundations of the old house, and the walls and terrace which we wished to preserve as is. The place we were trying to define was one about which we would not have the slightest idea unless we entered it; as the earth and rocks were being removed, the structure, made almost entirely out of steel, was being manufactured in a workshop. By the time manufacturing was completed the place was ready. The structure was assembled on site like a boat. We had used time twice and reduced the duration of completion.

Old stone walls greet you upon entering the campus; through an opening in these walls you enter the lower foyer; an unexpected place. Reached via this space with a curvilinear ‘thing’ painted the yellow of construction machinery is the upper foyer, a narrow, elongated space parallel to the Bosphorus. A ‘place’ that is there to accentuate the Bosphorus rather than itself: The outdoor terrace in front of it gives you all the clues as to where you are; you are right next to the Bosphorus.

The yellow of construction machinery in the lower foyer is also present here and the shape complements that of the lower foyer. Whereas actually, when you enter through the yellow door, the shiny black multifaceted concave ellipsoid exaggeratedly reflects all the colors that enter it with unexpected surprises. There is nothing more inside than what is necessary and compulsory. What we have before us is a chamber orchestra hall seating 300, with its inner shell composed of acoustic panels, a floor whose inclination can be adjusted and if need be leveled out, the truss on which the necessary equipment can be hung, and a stage that can be expanded according to the size of the orchestra.

The trees, old house, terrace and walls remain in there original positions. And passing through all this, at the end of a journey during which we draw away step by step from the outside world in order to access the place where we can listen to music, we finally reach the seats awaiting us, each different from the other, within a shiny black space. When the lights dim and the music starts nothing remains but the music, its executants, and their reflections.

Architects: AVA – Atelier Veloso arquitectos
Location: Guarda, Portugal
Project Manager: Carlos Jorge Coelho Veloso
Project Team: Rui Filipe Coelho Veloso, Francisco Faria, Carla Antunes
Client: Câmara Municipal da Guarda
Structural Engineering: Augusto Xavier R. Pinto
General Contractor: EDIFER / MRG
Project Area: 15,864 sqm
Project Year: 2002-2005
Photographs: FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

Architects: BFLS
Location: Cardiff, Wales
Client: Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
BFLS Team: Jason Flanagan, Paul Bavister, Jason Sandy, Anne Heucke, Kibwe Tavares, Armando Elias
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 4,400 sqm
Photographs: Courtesy of BFLS

Acoustic Engineer: Arup Acoustics
Structural & Services Engineer: Mott MacDonald
Lighting Consultant: Equation Lighting
Theatre Consultant: Theatre Projects Consultants
Cost Consultant: Davis Langdon

The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is Wales’ national music and drama conservatoire. Our newly completed scheme, won in international competition in 2007, radically transforms the original college building. The scheme now comprises an acoustically excellent 450-seat chamber concert hall (the ‘Dora Stoutzker Hall’), a 180-seat theatre (the ‘Richard Burton Theatre’), four rehearsal studios, an exhibition gallery (the ‘Linbury Gallery’) as well as generous foyer areas, a terrace overlooking Bute Park and a new Café Bar.

The £22.5m project is funded by a grant from the Welsh Government, loan finance and £4m of philanthropic donations. The scheme has been designed to be BREEAM ‘excellent’. The new buildings are situated within the Grade I listed Bute Park. Directly across the road from the new building is Cathays Park, the civic centre of Cardiff, consisting of a number of important listed buildings.

BFLS’ approach was two -fold, to design the internal performance spaces from the ‘inside out’, looking at their acoustic and theatrical functionality as major drivers, whilst in parallel designing from the ‘outside in’, thinking about the civic presence of the building in its urban context. The new buildings are situated inside the Grade I listed Bute Park. Directly across the road from the new building is Cathays Park, the civic centre of Cardiff, consisting of a number of important listed buildings.

The design focuses on the core needs of the College community, namely an acoustically impressive sequence of performance and learning spaces which will encourage and inspire the College’s students. The client was very specific from the outset that the new buildings should act as a catalyst for positive cultural change and easier department cross-fertilisation.

Although the building appears to be a single structure it is in fact three separate new buildings and a renovated existing structure. Each performance space has been conceived separately, the individual components of the building united under a single floating roof, its height determined by the theatre fly-tower. The drama building forms a new façade on North Road while the concert recital hall, clad with a timber screen consisting of light-colored cedar wood slats, sits amongst the park’s mature trees. Finishes of stone and timber create a sequence of warm and tactile interior spaces.

The new entrance to the college opens out on to Bute Park and a treble-height arcade forms a new spine between the new and old accommodation, linking the constituent elements, functioning as exhibition space for the Design & Costume Department and also acting as the ‘lungs’ for the scheme, creating a natural stack effect, which ventilates the public spaces.

Solus4 proposed a design solution for the Busan Opera House competition that symbolises the elements of culture and history of Korea. The team chose to incorporate into the basic building form the elegance of the brush and ink paintings of the Fourth Era of the Joseon Period. In these paintings the Korean artists chose natural elements according to an aesthetic sensibility.

The concept of sohwa is the overlay of several elements of art and culture as when painting and calligraphy are joined. Emerging from these concepts Solus4 developed a simple expression of nature and peaceful elegance. The architects were attracted to the free flowing lines that characterise the paintings of this type take on a very lyrical almost musical quality in the abstraction of the images above. They took the two dimensional basis and expanded this into the third dimension of building volume without any loss of the original element.

This to us was the emerging of the sohwa principle that Solus4 wanted to try to express in this building. The early concepts were then developed to integrate these shapes and elements into volumes that would not detract from the original intent and yet allow the incorporation of a state of the art voice performance facility coupled with the various ancillary uses.

Staying within the traditional artistic parameters, the designers first placed the conceptual diagram on the site, then diagrammed the building shapes and the essential volumes. The original ink brush strokes were used to freely become building elements. By varying the connections to the earth and varying the edges and heights of roof shapes it was possible to provide strong volumetric edges that reinforce the freedom of the original art.

Kubota & Bachmann Architects from Zurich, Switzerland have sent us their entry “Harmony” for the Korean Busan Opera House ideas competition. The design team included Toshihiro Kubota and  Yves Bachmann.

roject Description from the Architects:

Busan is the fifth largest port of the world.

The BUSAN OPERA HOUSE (BOH) is located in the Busan North Port development area. This zone is home to a cultural complex department, museums, a maritime culture center, a cruise center, waterfront causeway, public parks, an opera, a theater and a business district.

It is crucial that the BOH program and its architectural form integrate into the existing master plan, and express the new and unique creative character of the Busan North Port.

The BOH is situated at the southern end of a new artificial island. The form of the proposed project is a direct result of the site conditions: on the one hand, the plan is a response to the island’s outline, and on the other hand, the form of the BOH recalls the silhouette of the mountains surrounding the city. The circular form is also designed to allude to the Taegeuk and the traditional ceramic base. The smooth shape is meant to be a contemporary interpretation of these elements of traditional Korean culture.

As a result, the BOH is designed to provide harmony and balance to the Busan North Port Development.

A particularly key and innovative feature of the proposed design for the BOH is its patio formed by a void in the center of the new Opera House. This void is at the center of the site, and is also at the heart of the project. As Anish Kapoor said, “Emptiness does lead to emptiness”. Everything is organized around this central void: a circular foyer makes a loop and connects the Opera, the Multipurpose Theater and the Multipurpose Hall. This emptiness (which is actually a major space that gives this project an innovative identity) shrouds an exterior bench surrounding a water pond that is directly connected to the sea. This void provides an exceptional location for theatrical events – an extension of the shows occurring inside the BOH- this creating an animated and exceptional space in the Busan North Port.

The temporary stage on the floating platforms in the pond combined with LED screen system -that constitutes a sun protection system for the foyer and ensures a warm space- on the facade of the patio offers a waterfront spectacle every night for all Busan inhabitants.

The BOH is in harmony with the spirit of Busan Port like a beat flowing with music. The chorus lies in the heart of the busan north port: a multitude of impressions coming from multiple sources blend naturally to form a harmonious whole, creating a dramatic and emotional space.

Project Details:

Project Name: Busan Opera House
City and Country: Busan, South Korea
Client: Busan Metropolitan City
Type of Competition: Open International Competition
Program: Opera house (2,000 seats), Multi Purpose Theater (1,300 seats), Common area and Auxiliary facilities
Site Area: Competition Study Area : 35 000 m²
Building Surface (Projet): Total floor area : 60 000 m²
Schedule: The construction start to construct in 2014 (expected)
Result (12th August 2011): Conpetition Entry
Competition entry submission: August 2011

Competition Team:

Designer: Toshihiro KUBOTA, Yves BACHMANN
Landscape Architect: Bassinet Turquin Paysage
Environmental Engineer: Øyvind VESSIA
Perspectives: Sebastien Rageul
Architects: Ikbal BOUAITA
Artist Collaboration: Clement Valla

Boston-based firm PRAUD has shared with us their entry to the Busan Opera House competition. The international ideas competition invited visions for a massive cultural center, comprising a 2,000-seat opera house and a 1,300-seat multi-purpose theater, that acts as a landmark building for this booming South Korean city and puts Busan on the map of international tourism.

PRAUD’s entry didn’t make one of  the first prizes, but we’re happy to share this fascinating concept anyway. The design team included Dongwoo Yim, Rafael Luna, and Stacy Choi.

Project Description from the Architects:

The concept starts from how multiple performance facilities can share common program. One way is to share public space such as foyers and the other is to share theatre function itself. We found out an interesting potential of theatre that when one performance facility share its theatre function with other facilities, various types of performance stages could be created by transformation of stage and chamber facilities. Unlike having a fixed performance stage and sharing common public space, it is a way of providing a variety of experience to the audience as well as using the opera house more efficient way.

To achieve this goal, we developed a transformable “cylinder” not only for stage/chamber function but also for structural stability. Multiple disks in the “cylinder” can move vertically depends on type and size of performance you need and numbers of performances at the same time. This vertical movement also creates void that provides visual connection between floors/masses so that a performance can be shown to audience in various ways. Also these disks can rotate so that performance can happen in multiple directions as well.

Project Details:

Project: Competition Entry
Program: Opera House
Location: Busan, South Korea
Program Area: 52,000 m2
Team: Dongwoo Yim, Rafael Luna, Stacy Choi

Danish practice WE Architecture has sent us their entry for the Teatri Poslki competition, an extension project for the old theater in Szczecin, Poland.

Project Description from the Architects:

The theatre in the garden / Openness

Traditionally, theatres only serve a small group of the population. If judging a book by the cover, most theatres also architecturally exempt the idea of a closed world, a place that only a few experience from the inside.  Our aim was to create an open house; a house for the people; a house which is as active and public from the inside as from the outside.

We have tried to design a dynamical building which creates a harmony between the coexistence of humanity and nature.  The new extension will be experienced as a light roof with transparent facades, connecting all the functions of the house and acting as a pavilion in the garden. With maximal respect towards the old trees on the site, we have tried to gently wrap the building around the surroundings in order to preserve as much of the original garden as possible.

Project Details:

Name: Teatri Polski
Assignment: Open competition
Type: Theater
Clients: The City of Szczecin
Size: 4,500 m2
Place: Szczecin, Poland
Year: 2010
Status: Idea
Team: Marc Jay, Julie Schmidt-Nielsen, Nora Fossum, Søren Thiesen,  Katarzyna Nycz, Jorge Cortes De Castro, Máté Szabó, Stella Buisan, Kristian Hindsberg