Architects Vision
A Conversation with Jack Diamomd
 QUESTION: Your
firm's work is extremely diverse, covering a variety of building and programmatic
types: academic, healthcare, recreational, research, residential, municipal,
public and, of course, cultural. Does the firm have a singular ethos or unifying
approach?
JACK DIAMOND: If one aspect distinguishes our work it is
our social concern. We are very much engaged in social issues not only in our
own city of Toronto, but we are also extremely sensitive to the communities
in which our projects are located.
For example, we have been instrumental in a number of reform movements in
Toronto. We became very active early in the career of the office in the in-fill
movement, particularly in the efforts to recycle older buildings rather than
demolish them. Our offices are located in a section of the city that was once
an industrial wasteland. Through the city's efforts, areas such as ours began
to be colonized, with housing and public-use buildings.
We have both an ethical and a social interest in the role public buildings
play, and the interesting ways they engage a public and attract people to a
city's core. This is within a broader notion of intensification, tying density
to transportation, and increasing the mixed uses within existing city boundaries,
rather than expanding the urban area, to improve the quality of life. Cultural
projects are absolutely of paramount importance in the mix.
Projects such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Max M. Fisher Music Center,
in the city's mid-town district, the Canadian Opera Company's new opera house
in downtown Toronto and, of course, The Shakespeare Theatre's new Sidney Harman
Hall in Washington's downtown arts and entertainment district, are projects
of ours that address the social, cultural and economic issues of urban development,
and how cultural facilities contribute to the public good.
Question: Your work in the cultural arena has primarily
been in designing traditional theatre spaces. Given today's social climate
with the increased presence of pop culture and mass media, what are elements
to consider in designing a theatre for today's audiences and their sensibilities?
JD: First of all, the fundamental relationship between performer
and audience is a dynamic that hasn't changed-both desire intimacy. Each wants
to feel embraced by the other to achieve close connection. The primary aim
is to achieve intimacy.
The objective in our theatre projects is in some sense a reversion to an earlier
time when the relationship between performer and audience was achieved without
electronic embellishment or magnification, unlike today's rock concerts in
huge arenas filled with enormous crowds. Granted, today's large gatherings
in arenas or public spaces are in essence historically like the Palio in Siena,
where the city square was animated by events that attract large crowds. But
today's presence of pop culture and mass media in some sense creates a deliberate
distortion, not necessarily negative, but a distortion nonetheless.
Audiences for theatre, dance, music and opera, especially in North America,
once again wish to also experience an intimate exchange that is pure, unembellished
and not artificially enhanced. Audiences desire authenticity and a human dimension
that isn't an exaggeration of scale, either visually by the size of a screen,
or audibly artificial by magnification.
So we're dealing, in a sense, with a return to a more direct connection and
human dimension. Therefore, our projects are engaged in a reestablishment of
a set of values that are enduring and timeless. This has remained constant
each time we are asked to design a performing arts space.
Question: How then does this relate to your work with The
Shakespeare Theatre and the development of the Sidney Harman Hall?
JD: After many discussions with Michael Kahn, it became evident
that we shared similar beliefs in the power of live theatre: in the ability
to engage with other living breathing human beings, producing immediate human
responses that aren't manufactured or the result of distortions, replications
or special effects.
So we asked ourselves, "What is the atmosphere and character of a space that
is conducive to the kind of experience that allows for such human interaction?" It
is partly about making a fine room that doesn't have a dominant identity, but
rather allows the Artistic Director's purpose or program to dictate its use.
I often think architects who don't know what to do, do everything. As a consequence,
such design often lacks coherence. There is too much going on. Forms, proportions
and shape then lose their power.
A coherent and simple chamber is deeply satisfying, and the performance style
isn't dictated by the architecture. The architecture should empower directors,
saying to them, "use your imagination, have fun and see what drama you can
create."
Question: Can you describe the almost chameleon-like characteristics
of the space and how these elements set the Sidney Harman Hall apart from other
flexible spaces?
JD: Let's start with the inside of the theatre. The interior
walls require a series of structural ribs but whose size and proportions to
some degree are subject to our own judgment. The ribs brace the double structure
used to isolate the theatre from external noise. The theatre is actually a
building within a building. These ribbings or pilasters are not decorative
but actually reinforce the walls.
Making virtues of necessities is the basis of design: the ribs, or pilasters
are also used to calibrate the room. The wood strip panels between function
acoustically, providing diffusion and, unseen, provide the variable that can
be adjusted for music, speech and drama.
Question: What do you mean by programmed?
JD: Each panel with its absorbent curtain or shade will
have the ability to be adjusted independently. By determining the various settings
appropriate for the spoken word, live music or recorded music, a set configuration
for each will be established. These settings become stored programs so a simple
push of a button will assume the required acoustic configuration.
Placing these adjustable curtains behind the wood screens will allow the various
position and adjustments to occur unnoticed by the audience. They are hidden
in order to maintain a consistent appearance but provide variable acoustics.
So the first key characteristic is creating both visual continuity and operational
flexibility.
The pilaster design was further developed to create a two level colonnade
that surrounds the performance area. This colonnade is demountable but is also
connected to balcony seating where actors can make entrances and exists. There
are removable floor panels where stairs can be inserted for access from one
level to another.
Question: What are the other characteristics?
JD: The second objective was to provide the ability to change
the theatre form itself. Michael Kahn wanted a capability of changing to a
proscenium, thrust or to an arena configuration.
The proscenium arch is designed much like a Venetian blind: it consists of
a series of panels that retract by winch. Once retracted, the unit can be moved
beneath the fly opening and then flown out of sight, leaving an open or bare "end" stage.
The first five rows of seats are on two wagons. It is therefore possible to
roll these two blocks of seats at right angles to either side of the stage,
thus creating a thrust stage, or rotating the seat wagons 180 degrees and positioning
them upstage, creating an arena configuration. The seats can also be stored,
creating a large and open-end stage. Simple stagecraft, used to determine the
various configurations, enables the stage crew to convert from one configuration
to another in a minimal amount of time. That is very different from the majority
of "flexible" spaces, whose design dictates far greater effort and time for
conversion from one theatre form to another.
To create an environment for a small ensemble or quartet, a series of moveable
freestanding acoustic screens are placed in a semi-circle in front of the proscenium,
creating a kind of cove or shell.
Finally, a small, but critical acoustical enhancement, has been designed to
address the problem of sound projection when the stage is in either arena or
thrust forms: the balcony fronts of the colonnade are on a hinge, capable of
being tipped forward 13 degrees. This eliminates the problem always encountered
by the audience members behind or to the side of actors. As the balcony fronts
are flipped forward they reflect the sound back, so the audience behind the
actor can hear.
Question: We have dealt with the design issues for theatre
as well as for music, but what about for dance?
JD: First, the stage level is about 30 inches above the
lowest seat location, allowing the audience to see the feet of the dancers.
Second, the side panels (between the colonnade columns) are removable portals
that make excellent entrances and exits for dancers. Finally in a hall designed
to seat 800, the distance from the furthest seat in the balcony to the lip
of the stage in proscenium mode is just 77.5 feet, the same distance as in
the existing 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre.
Questions: Let's discuss the exterior of the building. How
were you able to obtain visible street presences and identity for the theatre
that, in its original conception set forth by the developers of the office
tower, was a theatre "encased" within an 11-story office tower?
JD: The original plan was to place the theatre within an
office building with almost no street presence. The theatre was to have been
contained entirely within the office building. The entrance would have been
via a passageway at right angles to F Street. The office building entrance
was to occupy the street frontage. This arrangement presented difficulties
for both the theatre (lack of visibility) and for the office building (awkward
elevator locations and odd floor space distribution).
We therefore explored alternative plans. First, I realized that the depth
of the site was equal to the width. I suggested rotating the theatre to align
it perpendicular to F Street. In this way the theatre would have a prominent
street entrance on F Street, and the office tower would have its own dedicated
entrance from the pedestrian passage, creating a far superior entrance lobby,
elevator system and circulation pattern for the tower's tenants. After careful
consideration, the developer accepted the changes as beneficial to both the
office development and the theatre.
As Michael Kahn said when we reached this agreement, "We started out with
an office building that had a theatre. We now have a theatre with an office
building."
Question: Did the changes lead to other possibilities for
creating an identity for the project?
JD: Yes, it allowed us to utilize the street frontage for
much greater exposure for the full height of the theatre. By projecting the
façade over the sidewalk, we could create a great bay window above the
first floor that also had the advantage of thereby making a marquee under the
bay.
The bay window acts like a screen or a theatrical scrim. The glass, projecting
beyond the surface of the building, hangs eight feet out over the sidewalk
like a huge screen. These transparent lobby levels animate the street and add
vibrancy to the surrounding district. The outline of the interior theatre box
is visible from this vantage point. With the transparent glass façade
continuing up the building's three levels, the volume of the theatre will be
visible from the street.
Having street frontage of course provides access to the box office and the
gift shop during normal business hours.
Question: Was there a specific reason for designing the theatre "box" to
make it appear as an isolated structure?
JD: The choice was driven by the acoustical integrity required
within the theatre. Once inside the building, there is a physical demarcation
between the lobby and the actual theatre space. Audience members will cross
over a series of suspended bridges to enter the performance space. This gap
or barrier surrounds the four walls of the theatre, completely isolating the
room from the remainder of the building. The actual performance space will
float on large rubber pads that absorb vibration and noise, protecting the
acoustical integrity of the performance environment. From the outside, the
volume of the theatre, usually as well as acoustically separated from its host
building, can be "read" from the street.
Question: You have addressed a variety of elements that
deal with acoustics. Are there additional elements in the design that address
this area?
JD: Suspended over the front portion of the audience is
a rectangular catwalk. In addition to using this for theatrical lighting positions,
it allows us to suspend a series of reflecting panels, capable of being adjusted,
throwing the sound forward. The ability to adjust these panels will be key
to "tuning" the room for music ensembles, whose playing area will be directly
under this device, enhancing the sound quality when the stage is in either
thrust or arena configuration.
Question: It seems that you have developed a series of layers
that the audience will encounter as they arrive from the street, continuing
through the lobby to enter the theatre and sit in their seats in the Sidney
Harman Hall. Was that intentional, and if so, why?
JD: Yes, it is indeed intentional. The intent is to provide
the theatregoer with a series of different, yet related experiences or encounters.
Upon arrival, the transparent and immediate accessibility of the public spaces
allows the individual to become an urban actor, interacting with the theatre
audience and its urban surroundings, creating a dialogue between the two.
The individual's experience changes as he or she crosses over the suspended
bridges from the orchestra and balcony lobby levels into the theatre. Next,
they enter the theatre and encounter a carefully crafted and intimately proportioned
room that has the ability to change its configuration from performance to performance.
Finally, as the lights dim and the performance starts, a new experience begins
with each theatre reconfiguration.
Question: We have covered a lot of territory. Is there anything
we might have left out?
JD: This project wasn't about building an iconic image for
the city of Washington, but about creatively addressing the complex issues
of the site, and the programmatic needs set forth by Michael Khan and The Shakespeare
Theatre. I believe there was one unifying element that drove the design process
and I believe it had to do with something Michael said during our early discussions.
To paraphrase, he wanted an adaptable space that would allow classical theatre
and classical literature to remain relevant in the 21st Century.
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