This following project is the re- adaptive use of Forty Five Downstairs, transforming it from an art gallery into a theatrical auditorium space, modifying the building by application of program and culture.
As a designer I was given learning opportunities to manipulate a given structure and to integrate a new activity. I was also able to understand how to integrating new secondary structure on to the existing primary structures of the space. This all included the consideration of lighting and stages of lighting, acoustics, thermal qualities of the space and interaction with an overall design concept.
My lighting concept for the newly developed auditorium space expresses the performative spatial experience by enhancing the audience participation in re acting with the space, increasing awareness and consciousness of gaze. This sense of surveillance is present throughout the space though the positioning of mirrors. This design allows for an exposure to the judgment/ surveillance, which happens traditionally through a performance. This use of the gaze allows for the performance to being as soon as they enter the space right until the end of the performance, allowing for this constant observation.
My concept overall reveals an ongoing performance in the space, the two-way mirror and the degree of lighting work cohesively to have an effect on the overall spatial atmosphere. As people look into the two-way mirror, either observing or being observed, the degree of lighting changing to reveal a differentiation in transmission and reflection leading to exposure and elimination of judgment in the space.
In order to elude an emotive response by the audience, I have included SMD LED flexlite light strip for smooth and vibrant illumination across the stage floor, LED Nanostrip lights across the acoustic panels and the seats and stairs for awareness and to allow for functionality of the space. Down lights are used for the functionality for the users of the space, proving them with awareness and orientation of spatial contexts and safety requirements, whilst still positioned in a way that amplifies the performance. The lights allow adjustment of the intensity to influence the emotive response of the audience and permit their active participation as well as providing that sense of exposure and reflection in the mirrors.
Ginnis Design 