Renovating existing theatres “I think we’ll soon see a lot more instances of re-using existing theatre stock, not just refurbishing them but dynamically adapting them to meet what artists now require. I was at a conference recently, and a couple of theatre directors said: ‘Why are we building new theatres? We just don’t
Nine huge audience seating
need them, we’d rather be putting on
towers can be rearranged in
plays in warehouses now.’ The demand
12 different confi gurations
for renovation and adaptive use
IMAGE: JAMES STEINKAMP PHOTOGRAPHY
projects is growing, particularly as it’s a cheaper and more environmentally sustainable way of doing things. “One big issue is how to get more intensive use out of the auditorium. rehearsal, they’re wasted spaces for so much of the daytime. The National in London was quick to spot this, and we helped them adapt the auditorium of their Dorfman Theatre – creating a system where you can
IMAGE: VITO PALMISANO
Aside from shows and the odd
fold seats into the floor and elevate the rows on elevators – to create a more flexible space that can host educational classes and workshops in
CASE STUDY 1
the daytime on a flat floor, as well as
The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare
host shows at night with raked seats.
CHICAGO, US
“Theatres have lots of new competition. If they don’t update their
Charcoalblue and Adrian Smith
facilities, which can be more than a
+ Gordon Gill Architecture
hundred years old, they may lose.”
(AS+GG) have just completed
air skid technology used in
The Yard at Chicago
the aeronautical industry lifts
Shakespeare – an ambitious
each of the 15.8 tonne towers
adaptive reuse project
marginally off the ground on a
with audience capacities ranging from 150 to 850. Compressed
bed of air, allowing them to be
along the city’s Navy Pier. The auditorium of
The duo have repurposed
the Dorfman Theatre
elements of the former Skyline
was adapted
moved by a three-person team. Gordon Gill,
Stage, constructing a fully enclosed, year-round theatre chamber beneath the pier’s iconic
AS+GG founding partner
white tent, with fewer than six inches of clearance at the narrowest point between the steel beams and the canopy. Eighteen 95ft-long (29m) micropiles were
IMAGE: PHILIP VILE
Shakespeare’s existing building and smaller theatre via a new two-level glass lobby.
Construction began in March 2016, and was completed in 18 months at a cost of only US$35m (E30m, £26m) – or under
driven into the lake’s bedrock below Navy Pier
half of what would have been required
to support the additional weight of The Yard.
to build a new venue from scratch.
The Skyline’s stage house and backstage support areas were all refurbished for reuse. Nine audience seating towers, each the size
CLAD mag 2017 ISSUE 4
The 33,000sq ft (3,000sq m) site is connected to Chicago
“The Yard’s ability to adapt to the needs of the art is genuinely innovative,” says Gordon Gill. “We’ve accomplished it in a sustainable
of a London double-decker bus on end, can
and cost-conscious way, which I believe will
be rearranged in 12 different configurations,
make it a model for theatres to come.”
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