In 1993, the Contact Theatre Company consisted of 65 people, operating in two buildings that were separated by 100 meters of temporary university car park. The auditorium building – built in 1963 - had a simple rectangular shape, with a unique stage of 17 meters width. It had very thick, load-bearing masonry walls that contrasted with its lightweight roof of channel-reinforced wood-wool slabs, which were felt-covered. The roofline was slightly inclined along the auditorium, and the operating height was recovered economically over the stage with no signs of discontinuity in form. The rest of the building consisted of, a small foyer to the south of the main auditorium, across the full width of the building, and to the north a series of small dressing rooms and a sub-stage. The main approach elevation to the theatre projected to the east, with a large front door, as can be seen in Figure 1.
The theatre is sited in the quadrangle of the University of Manchester’s Humanities block. In 1993, the Company complained that the theatre was not visible from Oxford Road - the busy, brightly lit, north-south main road of the university campus. Moreover, the Company was quite certain that the university was going to develop the area surrounding the theatre into new university buildings, thus, completely screening the theatre out from the public realm. The Company’s headquarters used to be a decommissioned, pre-war, single-storey building. Where they handled multiple tasks like, the making of the scenery and props, the administration and marketing of the theatre, and the designing, planning and rehearsing of new productions, and even presenting them in the classroom studio venue. Actors and crew had to transfer scenery across the car park and be prepared to make an imminent appearance on stage in the main auditorium building.
By the end of the 1990s the Company’s prestige increased, and it was known as ‘the Young Vic of the North’, despite all the difficulties that the theatre faced in accommodating its Company. Actions had to be taken in order to improve the functionality of the theatre; one of the aspirations was to merge the company in one building, with a main auditorium, a studio theatre for their Young Person’s Company and a rehearsal room that would resemble the shape and size of the main stage. Furthermore, another aspiration was to make the theatre more visible from Oxford Road or even further afield, a building that no one could miss. Finally, the third aspiration was to minimize the potential, significant financial and operational costs of a large, mechanical ventilation and cooling system that the theatre’s company would have to cover.
The company’s intent was to save energy and also money, which is a major issue in Britain’s publicly funded theatre companies. The original mechanical ventilation system was never actually used because it was found to be too noisy. During performances, the auditorium’s temperature increased to the original unventilated temperature, to nearly unbearable levels. Moreover, during winter when outside temperatures were really cold, the auditorium was absolutely unventilated and created an unsuitable atmosphere for actors to play and engage with the audience. Also, there were some other difficulties during the winter season, which included the problem with theatrical smoke staying in the air with no motion at all. Further research showed that the actors could not perform efficiently in an air-conditioned theatre like Contact, which is refreshed and cooled at all times.
Naturally ventilating and passively cooling a theatre is perhaps the most challenging and complex idea in an inner- urban environment. The Contact Theatre is surrounded by so much noise in one of the busiest roads of Manchester. The theatre is near the academy, which is a rock music venue and the audiology clinic, which is on the ground floor of the Humanities block of the University of Manchester, that is all around the theatre. Which led to acoustic issues increasing to a point that they became a very important aspect in the setting of the broad architectural solution for Contact Theatre.
The desired solution was to keep the external city noise from entering the theatre and the sound generated in all the three venues, the workshop and the scene dock out of the city and the surrounding buildings – which was a legal requirement- and clearly out of each other for operational reasons. The Contact Theatre was popular for its design of stage sets, which aimed to be impressive in both concept and form. The important goal was to construct the new programmed production, whilst the current one was running, without any interruptions.
A strategy was in order to solve the key issues that the Contact Theatre was facing and the design team on board included, architect Short and Associates, services consultant Max Fordham LLP, structural engineer Modus Consulting and quantity surveyor Dearle & Henderson. One of the early problems that the architect faced was that the site was very tight, even though the Vice-Chancellor gave permission to shift the original building 8 meters to the east. Consequently, the architect, together with the rest of the design team, had to come up with a resolution in housing the whole company under one roof, in the site provided.
By the end of the 1990s the Company’s prestige increased, and it was known as ‘the Young Vic of the North’, despite all the difficulties that the theatre faced in accommodating its Company. Actions had to be taken in order to improve the functionality of the theatre; one of the aspirations was to merge the company in one building, with a main auditorium, a studio theatre for their Young Person’s Company and a rehearsal room that would resemble the shape and size of the main stage. Furthermore, another aspiration was to make the theatre more visible from Oxford Road or even further afield, a building that no one could miss. Finally, the third aspiration was to minimize the potential, significant financial and operational costs of a large, mechanical ventilation and cooling system that the theatre’s company would have to cover.
The company’s intent was to save energy and also money, which is a major issue in Britain’s publicly funded theatre companies. The original mechanical ventilation system was never actually used because it was found to be too noisy. During performances, the auditorium’s temperature increased to the original unventilated temperature, to nearly unbearable levels. Moreover, during winter when outside temperatures were really cold, the auditorium was absolutely unventilated and created an unsuitable atmosphere for actors to play and engage with the audience. Also, there were some other difficulties during the winter season, which included the problem with theatrical smoke staying in the air with no motion at all. Further research showed that the actors could not perform efficiently in an air-conditioned theatre like Contact, which is refreshed and cooled at all times.
Naturally ventilating and passively cooling a theatre is perhaps the most challenging and complex idea in an inner- urban environment. The Contact Theatre is surrounded by so much noise in one of the busiest roads of Manchester. The theatre is near the academy, which is a rock music venue and the audiology clinic, which is on the ground floor of the Humanities block of the University of Manchester, that is all around the theatre. Which led to acoustic issues increasing to a point that they became a very important aspect in the setting of the broad architectural solution for Contact Theatre.
The desired solution was to keep the external city noise from entering the theatre and the sound generated in all the three venues, the workshop and the scene dock out of the city and the surrounding buildings – which was a legal requirement- and clearly out of each other for operational reasons. The Contact Theatre was popular for its design of stage sets, which aimed to be impressive in both concept and form. The important goal was to construct the new programmed production, whilst the current one was running, without any interruptions.
A strategy was in order to solve the key issues that the Contact Theatre was facing and the design team on board included, architect Short and Associates, services consultant Max Fordham LLP, structural engineer Modus Consulting and quantity surveyor Dearle & Henderson. One of the early problems that the architect faced was that the site was very tight, even though the Vice-Chancellor gave permission to shift the original building 8 meters to the east. Consequently, the architect, together with the rest of the design team, had to come up with a resolution in housing the whole company under one roof, in the site provided.
The plan was to achieve key spatial relationship between, the scene-assembly dock and the stage of the main auditorium, so that sets could be easily transferred on to the stage. The machine room, which contains electric saws and drills, had to be placed directly next to to the scene dock. The main auditorium had to be completely rebuilt with a new seating rake to be designed in a continuous parabolic section. The 110-seat studio theatre had to be lifted off the ground and floating on neoprene acoustic buffers, placed on top of the scene-assembly dock and the workshop. In a similar way, the rehearsal room had to be placed over the foyers and administrative offices (Fig. 2).
The resulting form of the Contact Theatre, after the new work was finished, generated a dramatic urban presence, enticing passengers from Oxford Road (Fig. 3). The size of the building was extended to the east, in order to house the new facilities that were required. The highest part of the building is its four extract chimneys, at 28 m, protruding above the surrounding buildings to ‘announce’ the theatre’s presence (Fig. 4).
Visitors enter a brightly colored foyer (Fig. 5), which leads them to an attractive staircase, which consequently draws visitors up to the main auditorium. To the rear of the ground floor, are the restaurant and a separate stair tower leading to the new studio theatre and rehearsal room, which are on the second floor (Fig. 6). Moreover, a large, double-height workshop is concealed from visitors on the ground floor, and it is as wide as the main stage. On top of this, lies the studio theatre, rotated 45 degrees in relation to the other spaces, and sits on a two-layered concrete slab, used to introduce air and improve acoustic performance.
Air-flow patterns through the building:
Main auditorium:
Air is coming in from an enclosed courtyard to the west, through group of acoustics splitters and directly to the raked seating. Incoming air enters into four different sections in the auditorium. The building management system operates dampers to balance the distribution of the air entering each section. In order to have cooler air in the summer there is a thermal mass inside the concrete-lined with block work subdivisions. The air paths before going to the auditorium turn through 90 degrees, which helps to reduce unexpected gusts of wind and also minimize external noise. Air then flows through the auditorium under each row and passes through heating elements underneath each seating platform; it then goes through continuous openings in the risers. Inside the rear gangway floor, there are extra air intake grilles which add 1.25 squared meters of free area, feeding from a dedicated plenum (Fig. 7). Additionally, the control room is separated from the back wall in order to let the warm air rise into the roof cavity.
Air is coming in from an enclosed courtyard to the west, through group of acoustics splitters and directly to the raked seating. Incoming air enters into four different sections in the auditorium. The building management system operates dampers to balance the distribution of the air entering each section. In order to have cooler air in the summer there is a thermal mass inside the concrete-lined with block work subdivisions. The air paths before going to the auditorium turn through 90 degrees, which helps to reduce unexpected gusts of wind and also minimize external noise. Air then flows through the auditorium under each row and passes through heating elements underneath each seating platform; it then goes through continuous openings in the risers. Inside the rear gangway floor, there are extra air intake grilles which add 1.25 squared meters of free area, feeding from a dedicated plenum (Fig. 7). Additionally, the control room is separated from the back wall in order to let the warm air rise into the roof cavity.
Air is exhausted through a 5m high chamber, cut into the current roof profile (Fig. 7). Five stacks are situated above the void, with dampers and low speed fans, which are placed between the void and the auditorium. In order to decrease the surrounding noise, the stacks are covered by a series of vertically mounted splitters char.
Different research papers prove H-pot is more capable and advanced than a cross-pot. H-pots reduce flow reversal stimulated by wind pressures and produce negative pressure for alt wind directions. Masonry stacks are safer acoustically and necessarily more efficient however; steel framed stacks were designed on the current lightweight roof of the main auditorium due to structural reasons (Fig. 8).
Different research papers prove H-pot is more capable and advanced than a cross-pot. H-pots reduce flow reversal stimulated by wind pressures and produce negative pressure for alt wind directions. Masonry stacks are safer acoustically and necessarily more efficient however; steel framed stacks were designed on the current lightweight roof of the main auditorium due to structural reasons (Fig. 8).
The detailed design task was to cover closed loops of intake and extract in three dimensions to and from all three venues and all the spaces in-between. This had to be accomplished whilst supporting strict fire compartment, and while protecting the path in and out in contradiction of noise and sound coming from any direction and against rain, wind and sleet.
The wind tunnel experiment at the University of Wales showed how essential and important it is in naturally driven designs to provide an intake oriented to each cardinal direction to handle the seasonal inconsistency in wind direction.
The wind tunnel experiment at the University of Wales showed how essential and important it is in naturally driven designs to provide an intake oriented to each cardinal direction to handle the seasonal inconsistency in wind direction.
Studio Theatre:
The studio theatre is two storyes above the main auditorium scene assembly area and workshop which is 6m high and completely isolated from other spaces; this was achieved by the heavyweight room within a room arrangement, which is supported on walls with rubber inserts. The studio is a theatre primarily intended for Contact Theatre’s youth group and it is able to run independently from the main performing space. Its walls, ceiling and floor are all concrete, having a great potential to absorb energy. The building fabric also contributes to fire and acoustic control, with a huge concrete sliding door isolating the main auditorium from the noisier, more fire-prone, workshop. Furthermore, the whole building has very extensive disabled access, which was one of the goals, the design team had to achieve.
Air is entering from north and 6m over the street level, which passes into a 600mm high plenum under the whole floor. The plenum consists of a high thermal mass which is divided equally into two paths via banks of acoustic splitters before splitting again into chambers beneath the studio floor. Air flows through heating elements hanged below grills in the floor plane in all four sides of the studio.
Three small half-bladed, short-cased, axial fans are situated at the base of each stack above the attenuators. This is more appealing, acoustically, than the position of the auditorium fans, which are placed beneath the acoustic splitters in case of maintenance. There are some inspection access panels on the roof level and also a simple wall-mounted dial in the studio, which allows staff to input the anticipated level of occupancy. Their predictions inform the BMS, which makes a decision concerning the opening extent of the dampers in the inlet and outlet stacks. The studio is a great achievement and is being used significantly within the Contact Theatre.
The studio theatre is two storyes above the main auditorium scene assembly area and workshop which is 6m high and completely isolated from other spaces; this was achieved by the heavyweight room within a room arrangement, which is supported on walls with rubber inserts. The studio is a theatre primarily intended for Contact Theatre’s youth group and it is able to run independently from the main performing space. Its walls, ceiling and floor are all concrete, having a great potential to absorb energy. The building fabric also contributes to fire and acoustic control, with a huge concrete sliding door isolating the main auditorium from the noisier, more fire-prone, workshop. Furthermore, the whole building has very extensive disabled access, which was one of the goals, the design team had to achieve.
Air is entering from north and 6m over the street level, which passes into a 600mm high plenum under the whole floor. The plenum consists of a high thermal mass which is divided equally into two paths via banks of acoustic splitters before splitting again into chambers beneath the studio floor. Air flows through heating elements hanged below grills in the floor plane in all four sides of the studio.
Three small half-bladed, short-cased, axial fans are situated at the base of each stack above the attenuators. This is more appealing, acoustically, than the position of the auditorium fans, which are placed beneath the acoustic splitters in case of maintenance. There are some inspection access panels on the roof level and also a simple wall-mounted dial in the studio, which allows staff to input the anticipated level of occupancy. Their predictions inform the BMS, which makes a decision concerning the opening extent of the dampers in the inlet and outlet stacks. The studio is a great achievement and is being used significantly within the Contact Theatre.