Issues in public assembly facility design, operation and maintenance.

Specifically, the process for designing and constructing a building.  These steps parallel the sequence that we typically work through for a live production.  This is not all-inclusive; depending on the project, there may be other stages.  The steps are nearly identical regardless of how a building is going to be delivered–design/bid/build or design/build being the two most typical.

PROGRAMMING.  The end result of the programming process is a written document that describes the space needs, function and any other critical information about every defined space in the structure.  This is one of the most important stages of the process of getting a building right.  During programming, the architect and consultants generally meet multiple times with all of the users for every part of the building.  Through these meetings, all of the features of a room are defined–its square footage, its finishes (flooring, walls, ceilings), any critical electrical, plumbing or mechanical needs, furniture and any other requirements.  For a theater, we use this process to uncover the type and frequency of productions, how many seats are needed and support requirements (shops, dressing rooms, storage, control rooms, etc.).  Every user is different and every building is different as a result.  Some very initial budgeting is generally done at the end of this stage.  Looking at parallels from the theater production world, the script and the director’s concept provide basic requirements of the scenery and lighting for any given play.

SCHEMATIC DESIGN.  The end result of this stage of design is a preliminary floor plan that shows approximate sizes of rooms and where they are.  Building on the programming phase, the schematic design phase starts to define the building graphically.  Adjacencies are established–lobbies next to the auditorium next to the stage, for example.  We start looking at the flow of people and material from one location to another.  This phase often involves a lot of sketching and frequent revision.  Another round of budgeting, somewhat more refined than at the end of Programming, is performed at the end of this stage.  The production process for a play or similar goes through the same thing–early sketches of the set outlining approximate sizes and flow of actors.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT. This step results in a set of drawings that have dimensional walls and fairly defined rooms and frequently a set of outline specification that act as a verbal sketch to start to define major systems, construction methods and materials.  Through this stage, the building gets more and more clearly drawn.  Proportions of rooms are set, doors and windows located and sized, heights are established.  Initial equipment layouts start to make their way into the drawing set.  At the end, we usually undergo another round of budget review.  This is also the stage were the first round of code compliance reviews happens, ensuring that the correct fire separations are established and ADA guidelines are met, among others.

CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS.  These are the drawings and specifications that the contractors will bid and then build the building from.  All of the walls, finishes, equipment, materials, structure and so on a fully defined, drawn and described.  This is the big set of plans and specifications that will reside in the jobsite trailer throughout construction.  A tremendous amount of coordination between disciplines must occur during this phase–architectural, structural, electrical, mechanical, civil and all of the other specialties and subconsultants have to ensure that the information shown on their drawings is accurately reflected on the drawings and specifications of related professionals.  This is similar to the final design drawings for a stage production.

CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION.  The design team shifts to checking the building as it is coming together to ensure that the structure is correct.  Shop drawing and materials are produced by the contractors for review by the design team.  This is usually the longest, time-wise, phase of a project.  Even a small building project can easily last a year or more.

CLOSEOUT.  The design team reviews the finished product (building, systems, materials, equipment) to ensure that all components were supplied and installed as specified.  The contractors make any needed corrections and are then fully paid and are finished with the project except for warranty support.

I’ve been reading about historical fires–enough so that a friend has dubbed me “Little Arson Annie.”  Two of the books are about Chicago’s Iroquois Theatre fire–1904; one about the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston–1942; and one about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire (New York)–1909.

We are quickly approaching the 106th anniversary of the Iroquois fire.  The story of the Iroquois fire, briefly, is this:

• An electric spotlight on stage arced; the sparks ignited a drop hanging nearby.
• The fire quickly spread through the hanging drops.
• A stagehand released the fire curtain (Made from asbestos; there’s an interesting analysis of the performance of the material itself in John Ripley Freeman’s book “On the Safeguarding of Life in Theatres.”  This book is available for reading online through Google Books.  Freeman was a mechanical engineer who did a thorough review of the fire).
• The fire curtain got stuck on part of a lighting fixture that was in its path and so did not close.
• Most of the performers made it out of the building.
• Most of the audience seated on the main floor exited safely.
• Most of the deaths occurred in the balcony and especially in the gallery.
• A total of 603 people died in the fire.

Freeman’s analysis of the Iroquois fire found some significant factors that contributed to the number of deaths.  Among these:

• A style of lock on the emergency exit doors unfamiliar to many Americans–and nearly impossible, in the dark, to figure out.  Called a bascule lock, this style of hardware is still manufactured.  See http://www.leboutte.be/catalogue_FR_Quincaillerie_verrous_bascule_a-bras_verrou-a-bascule-grand-modele.html for an example.  A not-so-trivial side-note: the common crash bar emergency exit we see today was developed as a direct result of this fire.  Carl Prinzler, a salesman who was supposed to have been at that performance, worked with Henry DuPont to develop a working device.  It was manufactured and marketed by Von Duprin–a name still in existence, although now owned by Ingersoll-Rand–and still manufacturing door exit hardware.
  
• A locked gate across one of the exits from the gallery.  This was an “innovation” of the theatre’s owners and management to prevent people in the lower-cost gallery seats from sneaking down into the main floor or balcony area.  Although this was bad enough, it was rendered worse as there was no usher stationed there to unlock it in an emergency.
• The ushers were untrained in what procedures to follow in the event of an emergency.  They did not know how, or when to open doors.  They weren’t equipped to help audience members out of the building.
• The smoke vents over the stage did not operate.  It turned out that the building contractor had nailed them closed.  Freeman’s calculations show that had the vents operated properly, this single change would likely have saved most, if not all of the lives in the theatre.
• There was no automatic sprinkler system.  This is the second system that Freeman showed would have prevented the fire from growing to the size that it did and causing the deaths that it did.

Since the time of that fire, we have seen a huge number of innovations in public safety devices.  One of those, already referenced, is the crash bar used on almost every latching exit door in North America.  More importantly, however, has been in the improvement in enforcement of fire safety requirements.  Many of the requirements were in place in Chicago in 1904:

• Scenery was required to be flameproofed;
• The smoke vents over the stage were required and were, of course, required to operate;
• The fire curtain was required and again, should have had a clear path that would have allowed it to fully close;
• It was not acceptable to lock an audience in.

When we perform a safety inspection, we not only are looking at the function and condition of the stage rigging system, we also evaluate the function of many of the stage safety systems.  For example, we will always test the function of the fire curtain (if the stage is required to have one–not all are).  We don’t always test smoke vents, particularly if there is inclement weather outside, but we do always check for their presence and examine their mechanics.  We test the masking drapery for flame retardancy (NFPA has established a “field flame test” that, while not perfectly accurate, is the only real means available to check drapery and fabric in the field).  We also look at lighting fixtures and their condition.  If we find deficiencies in any of these systems, they are noted, photographed (if possible) and included in our report.

This was a good show for us!

Here are the answers to the questions we submitted (the organizers of the show chose to use the light source technologies question).

Four options to support and access performance lighting in front of the proscenium include catwalks, tension grids, dead-hung battens and battens (pipes) on some type of hoist or lowering system.

• A catwalk (or lighting platform–this is NOT your classic catwalk as the railings are intended and spaced to support lighting functions) allows easy access to fixtures but must be carefully placed to be effective.  Too close and the light will be aiming almost straight down, causing heavy shadows particularly in the eyes.  Too far, and the lighting becomes very flat and uninteresting.
• Tension grid, which is a woven steel cable mesh, provides the greatest flexibility.  Lights are above the mesh and shine through onto the stage below.  The mesh does not affect lighting (or sound) going through it with one exception: PAR fixtures.  The beam of light is parallel enough to project the image of the mesh to the surface below.  Lights can be used anywhere above the surface as needed.  The cost is about the same, per square foot, as catwalk while weighing less.  It is also possible to rig through tension grid.
• Dead-hung battens are surprisingly common and about as inconvenient as possible.  This is also the least expensive, initially, of the available options, as it is nothing but a pipe suspended from chain, cable or threaded rod directly from the structure above.  Like catwalks, these must be carefully placed to be effective.  Access for maintenance and focusing is ideally from a lift (although seats frequently interfere) or from a ladder, if low enough.
• Hoists for this application come in many flavors, each of which has its strengths and weaknesses.  Lineshaft winches, dead-haul drum winches, package hoists, self-climbing trusses, trusses with chain motors, counterweight assisted winches are just some of the options.  There are also manually-cranked winches and other variations.  The major weakness, other than placement, is that focus (aiming) of the lights will take extra time as the hoist has to be raised and lowered repeatedly to focus the lights by trial and error.

Next up are the three most common stage rigging technologies being installed in current theaters, churches and auditoriums.  Those are manual counterweight, powered hoists and dead-hung.  What is appropriate for a given stage and application varies with the space, the users and the intended uses of the system.

• Manual counterweight systems operate by balancing the load (lighting or scenery, typically) with steel counterweights.  There are variations even within this type of system (single purchase, double purchase, motor assisted, etc.)
• Powered rigging systems are most commonly seen in the form of package hoist systems.  These are standardized zero fleet-angle winches that operate on a common backbone (power and control) and usually have a common control point that often allows grouping and presets.  Other types include lineshaft winches and dead-haul winches.
• Dead hung rigging includes any rigging suspended in a static manner from the structure above.  Some examples are studio pipe grids and curtain tracks that do not fly.

The two dominant lighting source technologies at the present in the theater world are tungsten-halogen and LED.  Fluorescent is used heavily in TV studio applications.  LED technology is rapidly evolving and quickly gaining ground on traditional halogen sources.  Already, LED cyclorama lighting fixtures outperform their conventional counterparts–at least when the rich colors typically used on a cyc are involved.

Finally, the role of a theater design consultant.  Primarily, the design consultant’s role is to provide options to the design team.  Once the function of the facility and its primary program functions have been determined, HOW to accomplish those goals becomes the next puzzle.  In presentation environments, there are many ways to accomplish the same end–and each has its own strengths and weaknesses.  What is right for one user may not be appropriate at all for another.

We’ll be exhibiting at the Trade Show sponsored by the East Kentucky chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Bluegrass Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute.  Look for us in Booth 31 at The Crowne Plaza Campbell House in Lexington, Kentucky.  We’ll be happy to help answer the questions to Construction Jeopardy.  Our questions:

• What are four options to support and access performance lighting equipment location in front of the stage (over the audience)?
• What are the three most typical stage rigging systems currently being supplied and installed on stages, in auditoriums and churches?
• What are the two dominant lighting source technologies at present for theatrical presentation facilities (including churches)?
• What is the role of a theatre design consultant in a typical project?

(Answers later or come see us in Lexington!)

I was speaking with an architect a few weeks ago and mentioned that, as a consultant, we carry professional liability (“errors and omissions” or E&O) coverage for our design services.  We see this as a tangible benefit to our clients and potential clients.  Why?  And what does it mean to you?

In very general terms, a professional liability policy covers us–and our clients–for damages (economic or bodily injury) that are incurred as a direct result of the performance of our specific design consultation services.  Our policy is much the same as that issued to a licensed design professional–an architect or engineer.  It’s important that all of the design professionals involved in a building carry this coverage.  The major reason why is buried in our commercial insurance policy, which is likely very typical in that it excludes liability from professional design services.

One requirement of our professional liability policy that is, again, likely very typical: we are required to ensure that our design subcontractors carry their own E&O coverage.  The implication of this is that an architect or engineer that hires us as a designer should be requiring this coverage from us, as well–it’s likely to be a requirement on their policy as well as, we think, a generally good idea to protect both themselves and the end client.

We were recently asked for our advice regarding stage drapery and humidity control.  Below is essentially the text I shared.  This system is fairly typical of many auditoriums: all of the drapery is manufactured from cotton fibers and is hanging from a counterweight rigging system.

Cotton fiber, without any treatment, is flammable.  To meet building code requirements, the cotton fabric used in your drapes was run through a flame retardant solution.  This solution is a blend of metallic salts that help to prevent the fabric from sustaining flame.

We strongly recommend maintaining a humidity-controlled environment for natural-fiber fabrics for several reasons.

1. Untreated natural fibers in a humid environment will deteriorate at a faster rate—moisture accelerates decay.
2. The salts used to flameproof this fabric are hydroscopic and will “pull” moisture from the air.
3. Salt, combined with moisture, is corrosive and will further accelerate decay of the fibers.
4. Large drapes can soak up a significant amount of water from the air.  Even if the rigging system was left balanced, the water in the drapery can dramatically change the balance of the lineset.  This is, at best, an unpleasant surprise for the next operator of that lineset.  At worst, this is a recipe for a runaway lineset that can result in serious injury.
5. When the fabric is weakened, the additional moisture (weight) has the potential to tear the drape away from its reinforcing webbing at the top.  This has a similar result to the scenario described in #4, above, except that the out of balance condition is in the other direction.  The results have the potential to be just as unpleasant.

There are other drapery fabrics that were either not available or not of an acceptable quality at the time the system was purchased.  These velour fabrics are made from polyester and are inherently flame retardant—meaning that they do not require treatment and the side effects that come with it.  These fibers will not deteriorate because of moisture.

As long as the drapery in use is fabricated from cotton, we believe that their environment must be humidity controlled.  One of the fabricators that we work with regularly states that they will not warranty cotton drapery that has been subjected to more than 65% relative humidity.  Failing to control the environment both creates a significant safety hazard (that increases that the drapery ages) and shortens the life of the fabric.