Reginald Malcolmson
"The Theatre. Historical Development and Present Possibilities" (MS 1949)
Advisor: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Material: Steel
Structural system: Two (2) longitudinal external Pratt truss girders with truss columns and suspended roof system
Maximum span: 72 ft.
“The project for a new theatre presented in this thesis attempts to show how the theatre could be changed. A large hall has been constructed in which the elements of the theatre can be freely placed so that new relationships are established in a free interior space. The simplicity and freedom of this theatre plan concentrates attention, not on the mechanical apparatus or settings, but on the play and the player. By such means a type of theatre can be made, offering new possibilities for the drama.”
Reginald Malcolmson explains in his Oral History that Mies suggested he work on a theatre as a master thesis topic, something he himself was working on at the same time. Mies’s theatre project from 1947, that was never built, explores the possibilities of an open space that allows for spatial freedom. Taking these studies as a starting point, Malcolmson proposed a structure that allows a new relationship between the actor on the stage and the audience by considering the stage and the auditorium as free elements in space. In the same way as Mies, Malcolmson also used the collage technique to show this interior arrangement.
“The theatre building will be a free standing structure which by its precise and pure geometrical form will contrast with the surrounding expanse of grass and trees in the landscape. The spectators seated in the auditorium and the actors on the stage will be surrounded by the landscape which visually will flow into the theatre while the interior conversely will, in effect, be extended out into nature.
The structure provides a free interior space which is not penetrated by supporting columns: the roof plate and glass walls are suspended from above, allowing freedom to dispose of the elements of the interior.”
