8 minute read
Small-Scale, Big City
from CCR June 21
SmallScale, Big City
Houston's The Gordy theaters add intimacy and variety to cultural landscape
By Thomas Renner
In square mileage and population, Houston is one of the largest cities in the United States, stretching across 669 square miles and including 2.3-plus million people. Intimate is not a term most people would use in discussing the nation’s fourth-largest metropolis. All of which makes a new performance venue, The Gordy, a remarkable task in its design intent, architecture and construction.
The Gordy, a $35 million, three-stage theater in Houston, is the newest addition to the city’s cultural scene.
The $35 million project combines three theaters into one 66,850 square foot campus. The venue is home to Stages, a 43-year-old producer of performing arts that brings a wide range of shows to area residents. Stages’ leadership worked with architects and construction teams to design The Gordy, and the overarching theme they sought was intimacy. “The core concept was about community, how the community interacts, how the community comes together, how the community can see each other, and how close can they be to the action and to each other,’’ says Kenn McLaughlin, Artistic Director for Stages. McLaughlin says those considerations were key, as they are the core values for Stages. What patrons say they love about the theatre is “intimacy,” being close to the artists and to their fellow audience members was the most important factor above all other things. Even more unusual, The Gordy was created in a former 40,000 square foot storage facility for the city’s Museum of Fine Arts. Architects from Gensler and Charcoalblue, an international theatre and acoustics design consultancy, met with McLaughlin’s team to design the structure. They added 26,850 square feet, most of which is a parking garage. The building also includes a pedestrian plaza, two rehearsal spaces, dressing rooms, costume room, scene shop and office space. The building is named after philanthropists Russell and Glenda Gordy, who donated $5 million to the project. “We work on multiple theater projects throughout the world,’’ says Bruno Cardenas, a theater and acoustic consultant with Charcoalblue. “Everyone was at the table in the design process. They were present; they cared and we were able to work with them. It was a good, collaborative process.”
Houston is unique in that there is also a market for smaller sites that allow patrons to connect with performers in ways that are impossible at larger theatres.
Setting the stage
Besides intimacy, the objective for Stages in designing The Gordy was to create a community gathering space while also offering flexibility for performances. Stages offers an eclectic mix of programs, from populist musicals to progressive world premieres and pretty much everything in between.
Acoustical smoke vents limit noise intrusion from exterior sources while also providing important safety measures to help firefighters bring a blaze under control.
The project includes seven acoustical smoke vents manufactured by BILCO.
The Gordy will be home to Stages, a long-time producer of performances in Houston featuring locally-based artists.
— Bruno Cardenas, Theater & Acoustic Consultant, Charcoalblue Sterling Stage at The Gordy is the most traditional theatre of the three performance spaces. The 251-seat venue is a three-quarters thrust design with four rows on the main floor and two rows on the second level. The rows are pitched higher than traditional rows so audiences can see the full torso and above for everyone in the space. “The space is remarkably flexible and acoustically magnificent,’’ McLaughlin says. “Our patrons are going to love the ease of entry and the nearness of the actors. While the scale feels large, the intimacy is amplified in a host of ways so it feels very theatrical and very intimate all at once.” Smith Stage is shaped like an arena with 220 seats. The stage is raised 18 inches, so the first row of seats is below stage level. The theatre, which is designed to be more industrial, essentially is a black stone box with a theatre inside the box, like an engine inside a container. It is more playful and surprising. The colors and finishes are cooler, theatrical and industrial, with lots of exposed cable runs, metal and infrastructure. Levit Stage provides the most versatility of the three venues. With a maximum seating capacity of 125, the stage is a traditional black box that offers 18 configurations. It includes acoustic drapes and removable risers and seats. “It was built to house longrun populist material and provides the most flexibility,’’ McLaughlin says.
Diverse performances, steady revenue
The divergent performance spaces allow Stages to offer a wide range of programming and for audiences to connect with performers. The group produces more than 430 performances annually, and draws approximately 75,000 visitors each season. Just as important, Stages schedules longrun productions that generate continuous revenue streams and creates sustaining work for artists. “This has been a highly successful strategy for Stages in the past, but even with two theatres, we often shut down hit shows to move our schedule forward,’’ McLaughlin says. “In this model, we won’t have to do that. We also have much more of an opportunity for community partnerships and bring
in and support other community partners and organizations.”
Sound separation
With three stages in one venue, Charcoalblue worked with Gensler and the rest of the design team extensively to create acoustic isolation during simultaneous performances. Cardenas says sound separation was an important part of the design process. “The Sterling Stage and the Smith Stage were designed to be used at the same time. The big aspect in designing them was to make sure they were well isolated from each other and adjacent spaces. It also was challenging because they are flexible spaces to be used for drama, spoken word shows, and musicals. We considered the room’s acoustic design to ensure people can understand what is happening on the stages.” Among the products that help enhance the theater’s acoustics are smoke vents manufactured by The BILCO Company. Seven acoustical smoke vents—two are 4-feet x 7-feet, 6-inches, and the others are 4-feet x 6-feet—limit noise intrusion from the exterior and carry STC and OITC sound ratings. The acoustical smoke vents are widely used in concert halls, theaters and other interior applications that require limiting noise from the outside. They also include the standard smoke vent properties that help firefighters bring a fire under control by removing smoke, heat and gases from a burning building. “We spent a lot of time researching and designing the envelope of the performance space,’’ Cardenas says. “With the acoustical hatches, you will not hear rain, you won’t hear traffic. With a regular smoke hatch, you will hear sirens and other external noises. It’s not the noisiest sight, but you don’t want exterior noise to become an issue.”
Tight-knit community
Houston might be a sprawling, densely-populated metropolis, but every large city has community melting pots that reach citizens with different dynamics and interests. One of those is The Gordy, which offers the artistic community and audiences a gathering place where they can cement their cultural bonds. McLaughlin says the building is designed entirely around the concept of community. “The lobby is a hub for the community. The theatres surround the lobby on three sides. The art wraps around the community and the building infrastructure. The art-making functions surround the theaters. It is an onion, all leading to the center—the community gathering place.” Community-focused theater seems incongruous for a city the size of Houston. There are much larger venues in the city where audiences can enjoy well-known off-Broadway shows and big-time concerts. Houston is unique in that there is also a market for smaller sites that allow patrons to connect with performers in ways that are impossible at larger theatres. That approach has worked for Stages for more than four decades. The Gordy allows them to develop even more, and deeper, connections. “There is a remarkable sense of civic pride here, more than any city I have ever lived,’’ McLaughlin says. “We get the benefit of serving as the arts anchor in our neighborhood. We are at one of the best intersections of varied communities in the city. And when you get to us, you discover more surprises inside. Three different theaters, eclectic programs and variety and flexibility. We really reflect our community, inside and out.” CCR
Besides intimacy, the objective for Stages in designing The Gordy was to create a community gathering space while also offering flexibility for performances.
View the project video:
https://app.box.com/s/ h07x4hrfi33weysrqiqqas815l038i8h
Going inside The Gordy
The project — A $35 million renovation of a former storage warehouse. The space includes about 66,850 square feet and a new addition.
One facility, three venues — Three stages can seat up to 606 guests. The Sterling Stage has 251 seats with handmade velvet seats. The Lester and Sue Smith Stage has 220 seats, and the versatile Rochelle and Max Levit Stage has 125 seats.
Acoustical concerns — With the potential of three shows performing simultaneously, acoustical performance concerned architects. They specified seven acoustical smoke vents from BILCO to limit noise from external sources. The vents also help firefighters bring a blaze under control by removing smoke, heat and gases from a burning building.
The entry — There is no back door to The Gordy. Performers and guests all arrive through a 4,000 square-foot, two-story arrival area.
