Entre
PERFORMATIVE LANDSCAPE THEATER
UWM - PSOA | KENILWORTH SQUARE DEVELOPMENT
M.ARCH THESIS
Bruno R Silva
COMMITTEE
Ash Lettow_ Associate Professor, Architecture
Grace La_ Associate Professor, Architecture *
Rebecca Holderness_ Associate Professor, Acting
Scott Georgeson FAIA_ Theatre Architect
SPECIAL THANKS TO
PSOA Performance Workshop Class
May 2013
Classroom Disconnect
PErFormaTIVE laNDsCaPE THEaTEr
Peck School of the Arts | UW-Milwaukee
2200 N Prospect Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Proscenium Theatre Development 2013
The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts (PSOA) is a public state institution set in Wisconsin’s largest theatrical community. Urban learning allows students to participate in a thriving professional theatre environment. However, the students must answer to a relatively inflexible seasonal performance calendar, as well as limited experimental performance spaces for student and classroom productions. PSOA is dealing with shrinking resources as its theater program competes for space with the other 5 disciplines within the school.
The PSOA needs a smaller proscenium stage to allow for more intimate formal performances to occur. It also needs a new Center for the Performing Arts to house its more creative endeavors and establish a thriving arts hub near it’s off campus housing.
This project proposes to create a new facility that will establish a recognized destination for UW-Milwaukee’s drama institution, and be a crucial solution to the current space limitation for educational and experimental performances. The project intends to create spaces that enhance storytelling and bring audience and performer closer together. The institution aims to strengthen its collaborative link between students and professionals causing both parties to invest in one another. This relationship will deepen its impact through the community by heightening its accessibility and visibility within the city, creating civic excitement and bringing people to the east side of Milwaukee. The initiative will utilize its creative community as a catalytic force for civic engagement and economic development.
The University is home to two drama theaters, which try to provide venues for a traditional theatrical training (Thrust Stage) as well as an experimental (BlackBox) theater.
Image Credit :Ross Zentner
The main stage is a 525-seat thrust-cenium where performances of the Professional Theatre Training Program and other groups are staged. PSOA shares classrooms, storage, shops, and small acting studios with their 5 disciplines.
Production
Performance
Pre-Production
Staff
COMMUNITY EDUCATION
THEATER
Apparent Organization
PSOA’s drama department aims to foster departmental and professional interaction that engages all resources - including human, academic, cultural, and economic; creating a test ground for the exploration of new forms of theatre and multi-media arts; and supporting the development of regional identity, merging both campus and community.
Actual Organization
CommUNITY
Disconnect
PErFormaTIVE laNDsCaPE THEaTEr
The department’s connection with the west side of Milwaukee remains loose, as collegiate level performances are not readily reaching users outside of its student body. While the market for theatre patrons is strong, the theatre isn’t drawing them in. This is due to the department’s existing facilities being embedded within the university, where the local community has minimal visibility or knowledge of the productions offered throughout the year. This project proposes to create a new facility that will establish a recognized destination for UW-Milwaukee’s drama institution located in a prominent position within its southern Kenilworth campus.
UWM is a walking campus and the Kenilworth area is relatively pedestrian friendly. The new theatre will aid pedestrian traffic and increase activity in the adjacent spaces. The Kenilworth area is well connected through bus routes, bicycle trails, and on-site parking. The proposed site is a 54,400 ft2parking lot with a Qdoba restaurant anchoring its northeastern corner, both of which are not active spaces for the community or the university. The design proposes to replace this impermeable hardscape with a large community gathering area/ performance space, acting as a catalyst attracting the community to participate in the act of theater. The performance venue will also be a great benefactor to the surrounding businesses as it creates footfall bringing activity to the area. A new theater is a great opportunity to kickstart the regeneration of the area as a cultural quarter for UWM’s off campus housing and arts venue.
The quality, quantity and proximity of public transport are quite strong in the area due to UWM’s current presence with their dormitories.
Bike Path Bike Trail
The 500,000 ft2 six-story Kenilworth complex is split into two buildings. The right side is an apartment complex that boasts 174 units aimed to house 374 UWM graduate students. The left side is a large auxiliary facility for PSOA’s artists’ studios.
UWM’s facilities are broken up throughout the city. It’s northern piece houses the main campus while its southern Kenilworth piece aims to connect its art department with the community.
CoNNECTING The Issues
PErFormaTIVE laNDsCaPE THEaTEr
The University is home to two drama theaters, which try to provide venues for a traditional theatrical training (Thrust Stage) as well as an experimental (Blackbox) theater. Both these venues by themselves leave a void in adequately preparing students for the diverse and modern conditions within the performing arts world. The architecture lacks the flexibility to provide true experimentation of venue, acoustics, lighting, and misses the opportunity to facilitate the education of professional theatre students in multiple genres. The students lack a proper proscenium configuration as the bastardized thrust-cenium rarely changes its arrangement. The main stage is buried within the campus and lacks a connection with the community. Due to this the productions are often forgotten about which leads to lower revenue. The off campus black box theater is more obscure and has a rigid structural grid that defines a central symmetrical stage that hinders the diversity of productions. It’s ceiling height is too short to allow for light rigging to occur.
While carefully studying the students in their classroom environment and during performances led to the conclusion that they desire smaller more intimate performances. Currently spaces are re purposed throughout campus to create their 5-10 min performances. These spaces range from galleries to loading docks spread throughout the campus that aren’t stitched together in a coherent way. Despite the student’s efforts to move the audiences throughout all the different spaces during the performances, the audience’s members are often left behind or end up in the wrong performance.
The Performative Landscape Theater aims to stitch this performance sequence by utilizing circulation as theatre. The outcome is twofold the student has a variety of performances spaces in which to experiment and, with carefully positioned program, the audiences members also experience the production of theatre as they move through the space.
ramp Parti
ENTrE morphology
PErFormaTIVE laNDsCaPE THEaTEr
The concept of the form was driven by the interaction between the PSOA’s theatre department and its students. The careful assessment of their programmatic needs and desires led to the idea of circulation as performative space. This compelling concept created spatial richness and would allow its users to interact with the program in a unique way. The circulation ramp had to have the ability to weave sinuously between inside and outside spaces. Due to this the natural form that arose was a monumental expression of a peeled landform that showcased the theatre process to the public. This idea makes the theater accessible in the widest possible sense expressing a concept of togetherness, joint ownership, and easy and open access for all. The sloping landscape is made up of several faceted surfaces that peel up towards the northern commercial district inviting the city to come in. Its southern portion is pushed down to create a sloping park for the students of the Kenilworth complex as well as the city’s residents.
Theater Box
The typical theater box is implemented on the site to examine how such a large volume will impact the site and its environment. The fly tower is a particularly dominant vertical element that can be a great opportunity to give more life to the urban context.
Exposing Theatre
Peeling The landscape
The form is peeled up towards the northern commercial district inviting the city to come in. The southern portion is pushed down to create a sloping park for the students of the Kenilworth complex as well as the city’s residents. The fly tower is moved slightly to keep the procsinium theater asymmetrical placed within the volume.
The volume designated for the white box theater is pushed forward into the street-scape, establishing it as a destination for the ramp sequence. The bottom entry becomes glazed making the production of theatre more transparent.
rationalizing The landscape
Urban Performances
Two cuts are introduced to the faceted roof. The first is a depression behind the fly tower which flattens a surface for urban cinema and performances. The 2nd is a cut into the form that goes deep into the terrain that establishes the underground parking and loading dock areas. Additionally the form is cut in the street level to create two entry sequences.
The volume designated for the white box theater is pushed forward into the streetscape, establishing it as a destanion for the ramp sequence. The bottom entry becomes glazed making the production of theatre more transparent.
moving Through The landscape
The interior ramp is carried into the exterior making the movement through the space one sinuous act. The landscape is cut with pathways to allow users to inhabit the roof and creates another outdoor gathering space about the White Box Theater.
ENTrE
PErFormaTIVE laNDsCaPE THEaTEr
The concept of entre, as described by Carlos Teixeira, comes from the Portuguese word for entering as well as to be in-between. It however is a more abstract notion of physical, spatial, and temporal nature of space. The word accurately describes the playful tension between the two prime performance spaces in the project, the theater ramp and the proscenium. When the user enters the space and dwells within they will experience the varied ways that theatre can be created.
When one approached the building a delicate glass curtain wall separates the lobby from the urban street and is tucked under the jura stone facade. This makes the interior bleed into the sidewalk enticing people to experience the theater. An oak lined ramp moves sinuously throughout the exterior and interior volume of the building creating moments for performances in its landings. The first of which is in the entrance, and depending on which entrance is taken the user will witness either students rehearsing or see the sets being fabricated in the shop. The user can also enter the building through the faceted green roof that is broken up into moments of performances by the pathways the weave in and out of the building, or just experience the outdoor urban cinema and park.
The 350 seat proscenium theater is a typical one. Its walls have a tessellated faceted lighting fixture that can be manipulated individually or as a group. These fixtures line the interior walls of the space and are made up of a translucent wood panel. If desired, this will allow light to play a more prominent intimate role in a production outside of the standard light grid canon. Additionally there is a more experimental enclosed white box theater at the ramps conclusion.
SITE PLAN
SECTION A-1 : NORTHEAST
BIBlIoGraPHY
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