Charrette

Saturday December 1st, 10:00am - 4:00pm, in the second floor gallery/hallway of the architecture building, participants of the USITT Student Design Competition are invited to an intensive design charrette.

Students from theatre, architecture, and other departments will be asked to share ideas on issues including: prospective building occupants' interactions with one another and the building, proposed building sites on campus, curricular goals within the new facility, architectural/theatrical presence/outreach in the community, and any unique needs or opportunities identified by the participants of the charrette. The charrette will be led by Assistant Professor Glenn NP Nowak with the following goals set as this session's 'destination':
+ working teams will be formed
+ teams will define/refine their philosophical approach to the design problem
+ teams will be able to articulate the 'ideal(S)' to which they will adhere (ex. experimental theatre in a space composed of experimental materials, on an experimental site...)
+ teams will select a site (potential options will be presented and discussed)
+ items to consider and small "assignments" will be brought forth prior to adjournment so as to enable positive production before our second charrette (week of 12/16).
Note: Bring pens, pencils, markers, notebooks, sketch books, examples of precedents, and ideas! Other activities will be confirmed as the date quickly approaches.

A short draft from theatre students of the written statment (described below) would be very beneficial at this first design charrette. If you cannot attend, please consider submitting a digital copy.
The program detail, areas, stage type and audience arrangement must be developed by the “Client” to reflect their department needs. The “Client” is to provide a written statement describing their College Theatre Department’s educational goals and needs of the teaching program. This can be made up or patterned after a real program.

Introduction

Last week, a number of theatre students and architecture students met to discuss ways of collaborating on the USITT (The Architectural Commission of the United States Institute for Theatre and Technology)student design competition. If you were unable to attend please take a moment to introduce yourself to the group. Let everyone know about your area of interest/expertise and how you see yourself contributing to the competition. Also, if you are hoping to connect with a student possessing specific knowledge, let everyone know what you need to succeed. We seemed to have participants already formulating agendas for their cooperative efforts: theatre students wanting to work with architecture students versed in environmental sustainability, architecture students wanting to discuss concepts of experimental theatre, students on both sides wanting to develop new ways of orchestrating efficiencies in performance productions...

What is The Ideal Theatre? (Ideal for whom?) (Where is it ideal?)
What does it mean to be the Entertainment (education) Capital of the World?


Share your thoughts on this blog. Our intention should be to use this site as a forum for our discussions and a gallery for our design process. Use it as a point of departure toward more personal collaborations in the future. Check back often as questions, comments, calendars and critiques, will be added.

http://www.usitt.org/commissions/documents/ArchitectureStudentAwardPoster.pdf