Exploring the challenge

Theatre design in the late twentieth century tended to place great emphasis on perfect sightlines, although this lost
the intimacy
and engagement found in live performances of Shakespearian
times. NIDA required new theatres
and additional teaching facilities
that were not only functional, but would also give expression to the aspirations and reality of NIDA as a world leader in the dramatic arts.

      An individual approach

With the 730-seat Parade Theatre at NIDA in Sydney, the design
re-asserts this traditional experience through the semi-circular ‘drum’ form of the auditorium, with stalls and two relatively shallow galleries. This form supports a direct engagement between actors and the audience, and indeed, emotional contact between members of the audience by ‘wallpapering’ the auditorium with people. Noted UK theatre director, Peter Brook, observed that successful theatres arrange the audience to form part of the spectacle.

      An innovative response

The design of this 12,000 square metre drama complex expresses
a sense of theatricality at every opportunity. A large unifying horizontal roof plane gives a bold public scale to the street frontage, enveloping a generous foyer space dramatically revealed to the passing public through a high glass wall. This extroverted foyer,
some eleven metres high, is traversed by cascading stairs and is the ‘living room’ and public face for NIDA, contrasting with the adjacent, more introverted and collegiate teaching facilities. This foyer
provides a platform for the action and movement that generates
from the creative energy of the NIDA students and staff.

The main theatre sits as a sculptural object within the foyer space, both concealed and revealed by an intricate veil folding around
its curved wall and defining a circulation gallery that provides access
to the auditorium. The more introverted auditorium contrasts with the open foyer, which is flooded with daylight, or alternatively glows from the dramatically lit veil at night.

      Designed to the last detail

This project provides important facilities for the original NIDA
teaching complex, including (in addition to the main theatre)
a 200-seat experimental ‘black box’ venue, a sound stage for
training actors to perform without audiences and for recording purposes, a major workshop, rehearsal rooms and teaching spaces,
a performing arts library, and a conference room overlooking
the campus. The Parade Theatre auditorium has a full stage tower, and is designed to operate with a proscenium or alternatively in
thrust stage mode and its format ensures that no member of the audience is further than 17 metres from the stage. A rich palette
of materials, including moulded plywood with Tasmanian blackwood veneer, and warm colours allow the interior to highlight the faces
of the audience, while an intensification of colour towards the stage achieves a subtle emphasis on the action.

      Beyond sustainability

The emblematic form of the veil to the foyer gives expression
to the environmentally sustainable design initiatives for the project. The veil is a key element in reflecting diffused sunlight into the
foyer, and assists daylight to penetrate deep into the area around the theatre drum. It also helps deflect the air flow through the down-draft cooling system.
The natural ventilation, and passive heating and cooling principles within the foyer provide comfortable conditions
year round without resorting to energy demanding air conditioning.

Underfloor heating and heat gain through the eastern glass wall control comfort in the winter, while high-level air intake vents with assisted cooling allow air to flush through the space in summer, extracted through large roof ventilators along the street frontage. Within the auditorium a displacement system supplies air to seats
at low level allowing it to rise to return air ducts thus minimising
noise and maximising comfort. These initiatives play a significant
role in reducing the overall energy consumption of the building while providing a healthy environment.

      Awards

2002 RAIA (NSW) Awards – Sir John Sulman
Award for Architectural Merit

2002 The Architecture Show Magazine
and The Francis Greenway Society
Green Building Awards – Gold Medal

      Publications

Behind the veil / by Angela Ferguson
Frame (the Netherlands), no 35, 2003, p. 40

Drama and spectacle / by Andrew Nimmo
Architecture Australia, Sept / Oct 2002, pp. 78 – 83

Performing art / by Michael Ostwald
Monument, no 50, Aug / Sept 2002, pp. 48 – 54