Architect Magazine | Design, Theater, Building Technology Heritage Library: The grand opera houses of 19th century Europe led to equally extravagant American movie palaces of the early- and mid-1900s. These structures were often ornately decorated and constantly evolving with technological innovations in lighting, movie projection, and seating design. This month we explore some architectural documents that reveal the progression of theater design in the 20th century.
5 comments:
I want hard copies of all of these books. I could sit and read them over and over again for hours at a time learning and re-learning all the nifty aspects of older theatres and movie houses. I love going to old theatres to see live shows and spend most of the time mesmerized by the architecture than I am the actual performance. Some of the old vaudeville, turned movie turned broadway touring houses are so fanatic in style and design that it is hard not to appreciate it all. For a history buff like myself, having access to all of these old catalogs opens up a world that is now mostly in the past. As places get renovated and updated, knowing some of the history of where items came from can be a big help into understanding what all went into its design and construction. For renovations and restorations, some of these books are going to prove invaluable to those doing research for design purposes.
This is a cool article. The books they have presented are well done, just attesting from the pictures they presented. The level of detail not only in the books but to which some of what is shown, is done at is remarkable. I love seeing the same time period architectural drafting’s because the level of detail they care to provide and do so with their own hands is phenomenal. This attests to the same idea. The pictures are on point with the drawings just spectacularly done. I personally would look at these books just for the pictures and analyze those pictures for hours. They are just of such quality and care which is something I think we have lost today with modern technology removing the physical being from the process and generating things digitally. It has become removed and a little cold but those older creations have character and personality even today.
I always enjoy looking back at older theatre because it is really impressive what they were able to achieve with what technology they had. In a way, a tech heavy show in the 1800s is much more impressive than one today, even though the tech is so much more specialized. Maybe it is because it has become so specialized. Two hundred years ago there was a lot more that had to be figured out or built that has been simplified exponentially in today's world. Of course this progress is not a bad thing. We are able to do so much more than we could have then, but it is important to remember what it was once like. That is where our industry grew out of, and it still has a lot to offer as far as solutions, ideas, and aesthetics are concerned. There is nothing like an old school solution to a new world problem.
Totally awesome. I'm extremely interested in historic scenery (see my current thesis idea :P) and to be able to access these documents online where they have been preserved from the physical deterioration that so often destroys important historic documents. Reading this article I was reminded of old film techniques that film makers would employ in order to bring their films and the special effects in them to life. It's interesting to note that what brought innovations to the live stage were all inspired by film. Which seems so backwards doesn't it? You usually think that plays always inspire film, not the other way around. In this case it seems like theatre inspired film which in turn inspired theatre again. I like this endless loop of inspiration that film and theatre share. These two industries have so much to share with one another, it seems to be a shame that we don't get to interact as much as I think we need to.
What a cool and eye opening article! I have always been fascinated by theatrical history, and it really drives home to me how far we've come technologically over the years. That being said, I have a great deal of respect and reverence for the old ways of doing things, as I believe that sometimes the most cutting edge or complex solution is not the best one. I am personally a big fan of simplicity, especially in the theater, and I really enjoy the sense of that I got from this article. I think it would be interesting if we tried to stage a production just doing things the old way, without any of our modern tech. It would be a fascinating experiment if nothing else! Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and work in one of the early american theaters, but then again, ours are pretty good too!
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