Tom Patterson Theatre / Hariri Pontarini Architects
Tom Patterson Theatre / Hariri Pontarini Architects
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Text description supplied by the architects. The new Tom Patterson Theatre at the Stratford Competition is a really predicted addition to the Canadian cultural landscape. Built by Siamak Hariri, founding companion with Hariri Pontarini Architects, this shimmering, condition-of-the-artwork location embraces its riverside park setting.
Hariri reported the festival’s ambitions set a superior bar for the project, which the Toronto-based practice won in an global layout competition. “They required an fantastic building with new applications that would enhance the competition and this group for many years to appear,” mentioned Hariri. “We sought to build an psychological practical experience via architecture that complements the magic of transcendent works of theatrical overall performance.”
The 7,150sm (77,000sf) theatre is located on the banking companies of the Avon River in Stratford, Ontario. Lively transparency runs its overall length with a lustrous façade that ebbs and flows in stage with the river. This organic, curvilinear sort creates peaceful folds and eddies of come across throughout a sequence of very carefully deemed areas that stream from one particular to another. Panoramic backyard and river sights dissolve the line in between indoors and out in this LEED Gold registered style.
Set in opposition to the sinuous veil of the bronze mullioned curtain wall that defines the public rooms, the horseshoe-formed theatre is wrapped in gently curving walls of sand solid brick with mortar clean to the surface area to resemble stone. Inside the wood-lined auditorium, 600 custom seats surround an elongated thrust phase, producing a theatrical location of unparalleled intimacy and acoustic excellence.
Close collaboration with the festival’s set and technical designers optimized the adaptable performance room to meet up with the demands of a repertory schedule the place distinct displays can operate on the exact same working day. Curved partitions and reflectors beneath catwalks support the finely-tuned acoustics in a area that can realize complete seem isolation as perfectly as complete darkness.
The general public rooms involve Lazaridis Corridor, a versatile space for up to 250 folks that can be configured for cabaret-design performances, screenings, and panel discussions. Two 4.9-metre-significant (16ft) personalized walnut acoustic doorways open up onto the foyer or acoustically independent the area for concurrent functions.
New play advancement and schooling courses now have long lasting homes at the pageant in the Dinner Rooney Workshop. For donor patrons, the Spriet Members’ Lounge characteristics a contemporary hearth in a spectacular area with wraparound glazing that gently tapers beneath a wooden-clad ceiling.
Three distinct bars crafted from red, yellow, and white patterned marble anchor meeting factors with exceptional views boost the connection involving the theatre structure and its organic location. Adjacent to the lobby is a skylighted café that opens onto a riverfront terrace.
Amenity spaces are fully obtainable during, offering a vary of viewing options in the auditorium for people today with disabilities. Back again-of-residence there is a dedicated rehearsal hall, accessible dressing rooms, a green room and a company lounge.
Sustainability initiatives consist of regionally-sourced materials, reduced-vitality lighting, and radiant in-ground heating, all component of a complete style solution for LEED Gold designation, which is a rarity among undertaking arts buildings. The phase lighting is a single of the initially all-LED devices in use.
New local community gardens present riverside vistas and strolls via plantings layered with indigenous species for the spring-through-fall performance routine of North America’s biggest repertory theatre corporation. The new theatre is just one of 4 festival venues and replaces a prior and insufficient Tom Patterson Theatre on the identical website.
