SAHGB Symposium

The Architecture of Performance
Buildings for Drama and Music, 1900-2000



 
Saturday 28 April 2012, 10am (for 10.30am) to 5pm

University of Cambridge Department of Architecture,
1-5 Scroope Terrace, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PX

Architecture and performance have long been considered related arts. And yet the design of buildings for music and theatre has often been a problematic experience. Sir Richard Eyre famously had a difficult relationship with Sir Denys Lasdun, architect of the National Theatre, London, with Lasdun vocally resisting attempts by Eyre to ‘make the building into a theatre’. The twentieth century, in particular, saw an increasingly diverse set of answers to the question ‘what makes a performance space?’ Those commissioning buildings did so for various reasons: as new homes for established organisations; to act as new civic foci; to disseminate particular visions of ‘culture’. New ideas of performance, of the role of performance in society, and in the kind of work being presented, suggested new approaches to and understandings of the buildings and spaces in which performance was staged. Architects and designers operated within a broad framework of theoretical ideas and international influences.

This Symposium will bring together scholars from a variety of backgrounds. Papers will consider topics including theatre’s place in the city; the conversion of existing buildings for performance; and the design of experimental spaces.

The keynote paper will be given by Iain Mackintosh.Having co-founded and run Prospect Theatre Company, in 1973 he became a Director of Theatre Projects Consultants, with whom he contributed to the design of numerous theatres around the world, including: the Cottesloe at the National Theatre; Glyndebourne; the Edinburgh Festival Theatre; and the Georgian Theatre, Richmond. His book Architecture, Actor and Audience explores what makes a successful theatre building.

Other speakers include: Dr Elain Harwood (English Heritage) on the recasting of London’s South Bank in the 1940s; Professor Neil Jackson (Liverpool) on the westernisation of the Japanese theatre in the twentieth century; Dr Joanna Blokker (Cologne) on Peter Behrens and the Modern Theatre; Professor Judi Loach (Cardiff) on Le Corbusier as theatrical designer; Dr Barnabas Calder (Strathclyde) on Cedric Price, Joan Littlewood and the ‘Fun Palace’; Richard Hayes (CUNY) on the Astor Library, New York; Daniel Rosenthal (independent scholar) on the genesis and design of the Young Vic; and Richard Gray (independent scholar) on British twentieth-century cinema design. There will be a showing of a short film on recent British theatre buildings. The day will be convened by Dr Alistair Fair (Cambridge), whose recently published co-authored book, Geometry and Atmosphere, sets a number of contemporary theatre buildings within the broader architectural-historical context.

Our venue, the Lecture Room in the Department of Architecture at Cambridge, was designed by Colin St John Wilson and Alex Hardy in 1958, following the Corbusian Modulor. The Department itself is twenty minutes walk from the railway station, or a short taxi ride; trains to Cambridge from King’s Cross are non-stop and take around forty-five minutes. There are other rail connections to the Midlands and north via Peterborough and Ely. Limited on-site parking is available strictly for blue-badge holders only and must be booked, but the local Park and Ride system stops nearby.

Tickets are £45 (£15 for students) to include morning and afternoon refreshments and a fork buffet lunch. Please complete and return the form below, making cheques payable to ‘Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain’. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Questions may be directed to Alistair Fair: ajf56@cam.ac.uk



The Architecture of Performance, 1900-2000: 28 April 2012


Name …………………………………………………………………………………

Address ………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………. Postcode ………………………….

E-mail address ………………………………………………………………………



Number of full-price tickets @ £45: ………

Number of student tickets @ £15: ……… (please enclose a photocopy of your student ID)


I enclose a cheque, payable to ‘Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain’, for £ …….


Please indicate any special dietary requirements: …………………………………

Please indicate if you are a blue badge holder and require parking: …………….


Please return this slip plus your cheque and a SAE to: Dr Alistair Fair, University of Cambridge Department of Architecture, 1-5 Scroope Terrace, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PX.

Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.