Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre – Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc.
2010 ESTA Rock Our World Awards Winner, presented at LDI 2010.
Years in the making, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre employs a decidedly different approach to theatre space design. Rather than the traditional mode of arranging dressing rooms, storage, and other support spaces outward around a central auditorium space, the Wyly stacks them one on top of the other, with seating structures effectively flying in from above and below.
Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc. worked with designers REX/OMA to address the challenges of the building’s vertical design. With no space in front or behind the stage or auditorium of the Dallas Theatre Center’s home, the solution was to design vertically to meet the practical needs of the facility and to create a flexible, multiform space. A removable crash wall, tech vaults, and support and equipment areas located beneath the stage allow the Wyly to be configured for proscenium, thrust, traverse, and flat floor arrangements of up to 575 seats. An advanced system rotates and lifts seating platforms up into flying towers while balconies and proscenium are hoisted away, making the theatre effectively disappear. Glass walls on three sides provide audiences with uninterrupted to views of the theatre’s stage, backstage, and auditorium.
Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc. has turned tradition on its ear while meeting the traditional demands of an operating theatre.
More info at http://www.esta.org and http://www.theatreprojects.com/
Video presentation generously provided by Blue Pony Digital. http://www.bluepony.com