Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2008 - 42

...at minimum, it takes careful and serious thinking to know
when the architecture is both good and correct. The project
needs a demanding client who knows what to demand.

Client Qualifications
There is a strong relationship between successful projects and
"good" clients. In theatre design, this means clients with rich
theater understanding and battle-tested standards about both
the art and the business of performance. Perhaps because of
the multiplying number of performing arts facilities being produced, talent and savvy on the client side may be spreading pretty thin. In the architect-selection procedure, in competitions, in
reviewing design team proposals, it seems clear there are many
clients with merely superficial concerns about the image of a
project but little genuine performing arts understanding. The
buzz around interview time reveals a simple copy-cat desire
about the "presence" of an arts building in the clients' community: "I want one of those too." Thinking of just one example, a
major East Coast arts center had commissioned a design by a
local (but well-published) architect but the client group started
to wonder about pizzazz and so went looking for another architect to help spur capital campaign donations. They found their
wow factor in a new concept using a "bold" exterior design
approach and welcomed the new publicity which came with the
new look and the new design team's credentials. But, after the
center opened, these very same clients switched from gushing
praise for their architect to sweeping blame and a lawsuit when
big cost-overruns and facility operating problems (largely due
to the exterior design concept) had to be faced. Ironically, the
first architect's design would have been far more appropriate in
the city's urban and historic context and more inviting at streetlevel-not to mention in line with the construction budget. So,
at minimum, it takes careful and serious thinking to know when
the architecture is both good and correct. The project needs a
demanding client who knows what to demand.
In the case of the client role on arts buildings for schools,
it is now very common for architect-selection committees to
include (or even be chaired by) a construction manager: of
course it appears logical to have input from someone with construction expertise who is up on construction costs. In reality,
this help on nuts and bolts issues adds little or no assurance
the committee will know how to spot designers and consultants
with genuinely deep and broad feeling for a school's performing arts program and what really makes for a successful and
appropriate arts facility. It is also common for impressionable
client committees to speed-read submittals and react only to
pretty picture impact without probing-as when they like the

look of a design done by a firm or consultant in question but
completed some years back and actually the work of other individuals or even other architects per an association and thus
not the work of those at the interview. The best hope for asking
the right questions and looking for the right qualifications is
to always include someone on the client-side of the table who
has solid hands-on credentials in one or more of the performing arts. (Amazingly, such a person is often the last candidate
to be considered when the selection committee is formed).
The other critical change in client contribution must be to stay
knowledgeably involved throughout design and construction, to
challenge design (from big picture to the small but vital details)
and be intelligently demanding as the design evolves. This is
healthy and this is common sense-whether the design team is
unsung or of the celebrity class.

Everything Starts Inside
Finally, the bottom-line for our re-dedication ought to be that
the performing arts building design must start from the inside,
to create total architecture which first and foremost serves the
requirements of artists and audience. For the sake of illustration
or inviting better suggestions from readers, I'll close by naming
a couple of examples. (I was very involved in both and admit
my bias.) In the major arts-center category, the Orange County
Performing Arts Center in California is still a good example of
a happy marriage of arts performance priorities with a cohesive
multi-skilled design team. OCPAC, opened in 1986, is unique.
Its performing-arts architecture is definitely not built on a predigested program. Thus, the entire building-centered on a
3,000-seat multi-use hall-clearly grows out of the radical interior acoustical concept for asymmetrical shaping (fig. 6). And the
asymmetry had to be carried through the different set-ups: large
or small drama, dance, opera, and concert presentations. Despite
the one-of-a kind shaping (which has proven itself in acoustical
results) OCPAC has some of the best sightlines of any large hall in
the world, and its onstage and backstage facilities have been appreciated by all manner of national and international artists. Perhaps most of all, it has also proven to be very problem-free-a
tangible benefit which I believe is traceable to the designer's and
client's commitment to an inside-first approach. Whether OCPAC
is your cup of tea or not, it is a fresh and individualistic effort.
Would architecture and consulting do more for tomorrow's performing arts if we had more such new-idea efforts?

2008

theatre

design

technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2008