Part of:

People:

Kuwabara Payne Mckenna Blumberg Architects (archive creator)

Title:

Stratford Festival Theatre, Renovations, Stratford, Ontario (1994-1997)

Date:

1988-1996

Level of archival description:
Project

Extent and medium:

1581 drawings (including 29 reprographic copies)
5 paintings
0.001 l.m. of textual records

Scope and content:
This project series documents renovations to the Stratford Festival Theatre in Stratford, Ontario from 1994-1997. The office identified the project number as 9428.

This project consisted of the major reimagining and renewal of the famous tent-shaped theatre, which had not previously been updated in the 40 years since its original construction. Conceived with Thomas Payne as the partner-in-charge, the project reconceptualised the existing front-of-house spaces, the performance auditorium and the formal arrival space. The auditorium, which contained a Greek-style thrust stage inspired by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, saw an increase in comfort by eliminating some seats to make the remaining more spacious. With this, site lines to the stage and the theatre acoustics were also improved. A large expansion of the theatre's lobby, box office, festival shops and member spaces accommodated the theatre's growing number of patrons. On the outside, a large curved entrance drive was added with extensive landscaping and gardens to add to the grandeur of the formal arrival area. A marquee space was also added to the building, which housed a year-round terrace. Thomas Payne created this project's original master plan under a different project number in 1988, but it should be noted that some materials in both projects are overlapping (see project series AP056.S1.1988.PR03 in this fonds).

The project is recorded through drawings, presentation paintings and some textual materials dating from 1988-1996. The drawings are mostly originals and include sketches, presentation drawings, drawings for the model, plans, elevations, sections, perspectives, details and drawings of new furnishings. The textual records, which describe the project's design concept, are part of a presentation book.

Reference number:

AP056.S1.1994.PR14

Arrangement:
Materials in this project series were compiled from multiple accessions and some have been arranged by material type.

Location:

Stratford Ontario Canada

Related units of description:

For related materials, see project series AP056.S1.1988.PR03, also described in this fonds.