The Glee Factor: Re-Imagining Performing Arts Spaces

“It’s been called the Glee factor,” explains Christopher, citing the popular TV series that ran from 2009 – 2015. Aiding this trend is the fact that technology – including LED lights and moving lights – is becoming more affordable and accessible.

At the same time, secondary-school performing arts facilities must balance production capabilities with teaching potential. These are dynamic spaces where students – including actors, technicians and designers – learn to create live performing arts experiences. 

One recent project that beautifully illustrates this balance is the performing arts wing at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill. Schuler Shook’s role started with planning assistance for the five-story, 275,000-square-foot addition that features a 220-seat drama theatre, flexible studio theatre, and backstage support spaces including scene shop – all connected to the existing 1,200-seat auditorium. The new wing also houses spaces for music, dance and the visual arts – each area outfitted with the latest equipment and technology necessary to support effective rehearsals and memorable performances. This successful project started with proper planning.

Absorbing & Collaborating

Early in the process, Christopher and other members of the design team – including architects Wight & Co. and Threshold Acoustics – met frequently with district and school personnel to better understand how they produce shows, move within the existing spaces and teach their students. Schuler Shook’s consultants absorbed this information to ensure the resulting spaces would meet the school’s needs. Christopher and his colleagues all share a theatre background, which helps them translate between function and architecture.

“We’re representing the end users’ needs as their advocate and guide in the process,” he says. ​“We also collaborate with the architect to help determine where each space best fits.”

With New Trier High School, as with most projects, this planning effort extended beyond the theatre to include all the performing arts — band, choir and orchestra. ​“We challenged ourselves: How could these spaces and support areas best work together?” says Christopher. He compares the compact, complicated structure to a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Indeed, the new facility squeezed 1.5 times the square footage into the existing footprint. The design team worked to ensure all the new ​“puzzle pieces” fit and worked together, acoustically and structurally.

Calculating & Connecting

Acoustic separation was accomplished by several complementary methods. Proper planning helped ensure separation of noise-generating spaces on adjacent levels. For example, the instrumental and jazz rooms are above the scene shop. The use of acoustical barrier ceilings also required that the Schuler Shook team calculate load requirements to ensure the rigging and lighting equipment could attach safely.

During planning discussions about traffic flow and space adjacencies, the design team optimized the new spaces for easier use. The two new theatre spaces are located on the lowest level, where they connect to the new scene shop and existing auditorium. 

Horizontal and vertical pathways between the performance and support spaces also enable easier movement and connections, such as temporary cabling, while maintaining fire-resistance requirements. In the music area, optimized traffic flow ensures students can quickly move from their instrument lockers to rehearsal or performance spaces. 

Looking toward the future, infrastructure flexibility was a very important design consideration. This includes theatre lighting systems able to accommodate both traditional halogen and newer LEDs. 

“We are examining everything carefully, listening to the client and engaging everyone early in the process,” says Christopher. ​“This level of detail can be what makes performing arts spaces really take flight and become valuable assets for the school and community.” 

Enlightening & Inspiring

Construction was completed in two phases, with the addition replacing three adjacent outdated buildings. School remained open and operating throughout the 24-month project. The entire new wing is attached to the rest of the school via a daylight-filled concourse, with atrium windows providing natural light to all five levels, including the black box theatre. (During performances, however, a custom curtain provides a total blackout.)

Adding windows to all these spaces gives students in the concourse the opportunity to see what’s happening in various school areas – including black box theatre, art studio and culinary classroom – and invites their participation.

Christopher believes it’s a trend to make performing arts spaces more transparent and open, to ​“lift the curtain” and reveal what’s happening inside. The district definitely liked this approach, which the design team fully embraced.

“Once the project was completed, it was very rewarding to see the educators finally have their dreams for their programs realized,” recalls Christopher. ​“During the training for their new systems – including rigging, lighting, staging – the teachers’ eyes lit up when they start imagining what they and their students could now do.” 

Partner Todd Hensley notes, ​“The school has a great tradition in the performing arts, and we are proud to have advanced their venues for decades to come. Christopher and our team did fantastic work at New Trier.”

New Trier superintendent Dr. Paul Sally shares this enthusiasm. ​“The design of our new performing arts suite enhances our district’s philosophy and our community’s desire to honor great traditions while also innovating for 21^st century learning,” he declares. ​“Our students, teachers, and the community have all given uniformly positive feedback. The student experience has been vastly improved – both learning and performing – and the reputation of our performing arts program has been soaring.”