Saturday, February 19, 2011
Who Left-out the Steel? A new endangered species: Gridirons
TheatreFace: "As both a facility designer and a rigging systems inspector I have come to notice a disturbing trend in Theatre Stage House designs: No walk-on gridiron deck.
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6 comments:
Holy cow I can't agree with this more. "Penny-wise and Pound-foolish" decisions like this are everywhere. Not only are Erich's points on WHY we should have a complete rigging system (which DOES include a walkable grid ceiling) completely accurate but he hit a clear nerve when he suggests someone may have decided to cut a walking grid for glitzy schmance out in the front lobby. My old TD in undergrad used say, "Everyone wants the car to drive fast and straight but no one wants to pay for the right tires."
Even here at CMU, we can see the traces of this phenomenon. I'm not sure the Chosky's carriages are too long for the load-rail BECAUSE of a ploy to save money but surely it is a symptom of not thinking a process through as loading any weight is TERRIFYING.
I agree with this post completely! Trying to save money or make a rigging system without a full gridiron is foolish. A walkable gridiron and loading rail has been a major part of pretty much every production Ive done. The time it saves and the safety it provides seems almost incomparable to saving money.
Without a walkable grid, you are setting up your theatre for not only a lack of options as far as rigging go, but a serious safety risk. Not being able to walk up to the grid to take a look at something will almost certainly mean that NOBODY is going to make the effort to regularly inspect the equipment. No one in house will want to do it, and having someone in to do it will be much more expensive and a huge hassle. Without regular inspections, the rigging system could just deteriorate, and nobody will know it until battens start dropping from the sky. This is simply foolish.
I agree completely with Sam in that Value Engineering this way is silly. Value engineering in theater usually equals astronomical price later down the road. Value engineering without a Theater Consultant equals astronomical price later down the road and serious safety issues.
These pictures reminds me of my High school procenium space that had a wooden grid that you had to crawl around in on hauled up sheets of ply, to check anything out. This was before I learned I was mortal and that fall protection existed. I think of my experience, and I shudder to think that this is a recurring theme.
Again, I agree with my cologues. I will file this article in my poorly designed theatre folder. I cannot name a theater that I have worked in that there was not some major design flaw. Low grid height, tiny loading door, poorly placed PA system, gigantic loud HVAC units in the flyspace. The begged question is, "Who is actually designing these theaters and have they really never thought to ask a theatre person how a theater should work? It you are going to invest such capitol in a project, why should you not do it so it will meet its intended purpose. I would like to meet a theatre building designer someday and ask them some of these questions.
This article was really illuminating to me as to exactly why these type of infrastructure is so valuable. I guess it wasn't so apparent to me before, but this article does spell it all out. After reading it, I can't imagine planning a space without it. If you can't afford to do it right, then you can't afford to do it. And in this instance, not only is the theatrical ability of the space compromised, nor the longevity and health of the building, with access to sprinkler, HVAC, etc infrastructure above the grid; but the general safety of people below the system is in jeopardy. Not cool.
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