Theater Architecture I

A diverse student cohort drawn from Architecture, Drama and Arts Management (MAM) works with the actual client, the Festival d'Avignon, and theater consultants Jean-Guy Lecat and Len Auerbach. Students plan and program the project design challenge, which is the subject of the corequisite course "62-418/62-718: Theater Architecture II." The course emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration between the students on research, analysis and design exercises, with in-class work sessions and brief sketch problems as well as individual and group work. Subject areas include a full range of topics that are integral to the creation, support and occupancy of a performance, including: theater design from Classical Greek through Elizabethan theater to contemporary state-of-the-art multimedia performance; theater occupancy, programming and planning theater systems; lighting, sound, rigging, etc.; performance/spatial interaction and critical evaluation; and site-specific design opportunities and challenges.

Students discover the critical elements of theater architecture design, typology and occupancy through the course's four instructional streams:

• Lecture and work sessions presented and facilitated by practicing professionals and experts from within the schools
• Programming and planning a major theater, paralleling a real project
• Interaction with professional design teams specializing in theater projects
• Experience and evaluation of performances and venue design of diverse theaters and other performance spaces