PLANNING

Landry & Bogan, Inc. provides planning services for all kinds of public assembly facilities; theatres, studios, concert halls, amphitheatres and flexible 'black box' spaces.   We create project planning guides, feasibility studies, renovation and adaptive reuse studies either stand-alone or with an arts management consultant, architectural team or both.   We have performed more than 50 studies for municipalities, educational institutions and theatre companies.   All our work is carefully tailored to the clients needs and budget at any phase of development from "my Dad's got a barn we can use" to government-financed major civic institutions.

 

PROJECT PLANNING APPROACH

It's hard to imagine an educational institution setting out to build a laboratory building without a scrupulous analysis of what activities are to take place in every lab, yet it happens all the time with theatres.  At Landry & Bogan we believe a theatre to be a more complex and difficult building type, deserving of at least as much meticulous and rational planning.

The architectural and theatrical requirements of events that may be expected to take place in a theatre can vary widely.  Arrangements and equipment that are ideal for one use may be quite unsuitable for another.  In these days of limited arts funding, a new performance space may be expected to do many things, from straight drama to dance recital to corporate lecture.  The stakes are high, because in even the simplest performance space, acceptable standards - for room acoustics, noise control, audience and performer circulation, sight lines, performer support facilities, equipment and places to use it - are expensive.

Over 30-plus years in consulting, Landry & Bogan has developed a base of knowledge and a range of techniques appropriate to planning theatres from black box to multi-space performing arts center.  In all cases, the goal is the same: Identify what is to be done in the space and assist the Architect to design the appropriate physical plant for it.

Program development will provide preliminary answers to a number of questions, including the one above; what is the theatre for?   Landry & Bogan helps discover that answer.  We lead intensive on-site sessions, with all the potential users and stake-holders assembled to hammer out a prioritized program of event types to be served, audience size needed, etc. Setting priorities is hard work, but it is a lot harder after users have fallen in love with plans of unrealizable spaces and equipment.

The results of the planning and research above lead to preliminary design recommendations for seat count, stage and audience shape and relationship, types and sizes of performer and technical support spaces, complexity of equipment systems, and audience amenities.  The team can then develop a formal Project Planning Guide, which can be reviewed and refined by all concerned parties.  The final document will contain the names, descriptions, sizes, functions and special equipment for all the needed spaces, and serve as the overriding guide for the building design.