Cleveland’s Allen Theatre opened in 1921 as a 3,080-seat movie house. It was spared from the wrecking ball in the 1970s. In the late 1990s it underwent a renovation that reduced the number of seats to 2,500, and it reopened in 1998 as a venue for live theatre. By 2010, it was marginally utilized, a victim of changes in the entertainment industry and the national economic downturn.
The reconstruction of the Allen Theatre was made possible by a unique collaboration among three organizations: the Cleveland Play House and Cleveland State University, each of which needed to build new performance facilities; and Cleveland’s PlayhouseSquare, the second-largest theatre district in the country (after New York’s Lincoln Center) and the largest total historic theatre district in history, with 10 renovated, reconstructed, and new insertion venues.
PROJECT SUMMARY
ALLEN THEATRE AT PLAYHOUSESQUARE
Cleveland, OhioBuilding Team
Submitting Firm: Westlake Reed Leskosky (architect, engineer)
Acoustician: Talaske and Associates
Construction manager: Turner Construction Co.General Information
Size: 81,500 sf (renovation), 44,000 sf (addition)
Construction cost: $30 million
Construction time: August 2010 to December 2011(Phase I) and January 2012 (Phase II)
Delivery method: CM with GMP
All three entities were clients of local architecture firm Westlake Reed Leskosky, which brought them together to fulfill their professional and educational agendas. WRL provided all architectural and engineering services, with Talaske and Associates as acoustician and Turner Construction Company as construction manager.
The $30 million project resulted in three new theatres in the existing 81,500-sf space and a 44,000-sf contiguous addition: the Allen Theatre, the Second Stage, and the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre.
The Allen Theatre was transformed into a 512-seat proscenium stage theatre. The space was downsized to improve acoustics and allow for vocal clarity without the need for amplification. New sidewalls featuring scrims of perforated metal were constructed, designed to reflect sound to patrons in and under the balcony. The area under the balcony was redeveloped into a lounge and pre-show events space.
The Second Stage is a transitional space that flexibly seats up to 348 and is equipped with seating wagons that can transform the stage area into multiple configurations. The Helen is a 150-seat black-box theatre for smaller performances and educational programs.
All three theatres were up and running by this past January. With the addition of these new venues, PlayhouseSquare expects at least 150,000 additional guests to patronize the renovated theatre district each year. +
Related Stories
Resiliency | Sep 30, 2022
Designing buildings for wildfire defensibility
Wold Architects and Engineers' Senior Planner Ryan Downs, AIA, talks about how to make structures and communities more fire-resistant.
| Sep 30, 2022
Manley Spangler Smith Architects partners with PBK in strategic merger
Manley Spangler Smith Architects (MSSA), a Georgia-based, full-service architectural firm specializing in educational and municipal facilities, announced today a significant development aimed at increasing its capabilities, expertise, and suite of services.
| Sep 30, 2022
Lab-grown bricks offer potential low-carbon building material
A team of students at the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a process to grow bricks using bacteria.
| Sep 29, 2022
FitzGerald establishes Denver office
The new location bolsters FitzGerald’s nationwide reach and capitalizes on local expertise and boots-on-the-ground to serve new and existing clients seeking to do business in Denver and the Front Range, as well as the Southwest United States, California, and Texas.
| Sep 28, 2022
New digital platform to foster construction supply chains free of forced labor
Design for Freedom by Grace Farms and the U.S. Coalition on Sustainability formed a partnership to advance shared goals regarding sustainable and ethical building material supply chains that are free of forced labor.
| Sep 27, 2022
New Buildings Institute released the Existing Building Decarbonization Code
New Buildings Institute (NBI) has released the Existing Building Decarbonization Code.
| Sep 23, 2022
High projected demand for new housing prompts debate on best climate-friendly materials
The number of people living in cities could increase to 80% of the total population by 2100. That could require more new construction between now and 2050 than all the construction done since the start of the industrial revolution.
| Sep 23, 2022
Central offices making a comeback after pandemic
In the early stages of the Covid pandemic, commercial real estate industry experts predicted that businesses would increasingly move toward a hub-and-spoke office model.
| Sep 22, 2022
Gainesville, Fla., ordinance requires Home Energy Score during rental inspections
The city of Gainesville, Florida was recently recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Energy for an adopted ordinance that requires rental housing to receive a Home Energy Score during rental inspections.
| Sep 21, 2022
New California law creates incentive for installing outdoor dining safety barriers
A new California law provides an incentive for commercial property owners to install barriers to protect outdoor diners.
