Chapter 14Auditorium Design

All assembly spaces must provide audience sightlines as described in Chapter 12 and accessibility and egress as described in Chapter 13. Auditoriums intended for live performance must provide more—they must support and enhance the communal act of performance that takes place within them. This chapter discusses these distinct requirements of spaces for live performance. To frame our discussion, we’ll first address two related topics: the nature of live performance and the role of precedents in the design of auditoriums.

Nature of Live Performance

Live performance is a shared act between performers and audience that takes place at a particular time and in a particular space. We tend to take this simple truth for granted, ...

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