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3 together on the ground and the whole structure craned onto the roof, with the legs pin-jointed so they swung in as the grid was raised. Once it was up and the legs vertical, more bolts were added onto pre-installed steel shoes.
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The Bridge Theatre was the first theatre for the London Theatre Company and the first theatre of scale in the centre of London for several decades. As a start-up company, founded by Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr, the need to complete and open the theatre as quickly as possible was a priority. The auditorium was built inside a completed Berkeley Homes development in London Bridge, and was installed through a get-in door – like a ship in a bottle. The challenge was that the theatre had to be erected inside the space with no cranage and minimal manoeuvring space.
finished and equipped with all parts of the auditorium in place except floor finishes and seating. Each element was mocked up offsite to check buildability and for client review. Due to the improved tolerances, structural rigidity and advanced engineering, the galleries were made much more vertically compressed than a standard theatre construction enabling one more storey of theatre to fit in the existing volume.
The solution was to prefabricate steel panels forming the outer walls of the auditorium, off which modular steel sections of gallery could be hung, sitting on a sprung concrete slab completely isolated from the surrounding residential structure. Working with theatre specialist manufacturers Tait Stage Technologies, and to a concept already in development in the office, the client was able to see realised a new kind of theatre, enabling a much greater density of audience and improved flexibility. Each section of outer wall and gallery arrived onsite wired,
Tait used Catia – a modelling programme developed by Dassault for designing aircraft – which enabled seat positions, weld strengths, smoke modelling, assembly drawings and design co-ordination to be reviewed on the model with much greater levels of accuracy. The eight-tonne panels for the walls contained acoustic insulation, grilles and voids for ventilation, and stiffening members to form a deep diaphragm wall. All the components, designed to fit on a standard articulated lorry and move along a monorail installed in the soffit of the theatre get-in, were lifted into
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position with a telehandler inside the auditorium before the seating rostra were added. In a separate contract, the front-ofhouse areas and back-of-house areas were built at the same time as the auditorium was installed, including the ventilation ducts which plugged into the outside of the auditorium envelope. The auditorium was designed and manufactured on a separate accelerated programme to the rest of the theatre, preventing the lead-in time for the auditorium components from slowing down the overall contract. For more information visit: www.haworthtompkins.com Images: 01-03. The Deck construction and installation at the National Theatre. Courtesy Philip Vile/Lucas Facer 04. The Bridge Theatre steel panels formed the outer walls of the auditorium, off which modular steel sections of gallery could be hung. Courtesy Philip Vile
WWW.OFFSITEMAGAZINE.CO.UK | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019