TDD

The City of London Academy Southwark

Completed September 2005

Technical Drama Design was asked to design and project manage this project. The brief was to consult
with the staff of the school, architects and the builders, and put together a multipurpose performing arts
area consisting of hall and drama studio.

The Drama facilities feature a multipurpose hall with a stage at floor level or raised via portable staging.

The hall can be divided into two, with the stage area as a drama studio and the auditorum as a theatre
area, a second studio, or lecture theatre, devided from the stage by a soundproof sliding door.

The stage area can also become a small intimate drama studio with provision for a audence of 50 people
using the portable stageing to create tiered seating.

Auditorum seating in the main space is a bleacher sysytem seating 250 people.

The light, sound and curtain track system are designed to enable both spaces to be used as two fully
equiped spaces at the same time or as one large space.

A large video projector is mounted in the ceiling for projection presentations in the auditorum.

City of London Academy Sothwark

The end result:

The drama space was requested by the school and planned by the architect, but designed by Ray
Balcombe of Technical Drama Design and fitted by Stage Systems. Originally just a shell, the space is now
a fully equipped theatre with a complete sound system, an extensive lighting rig, a variety of
performance and blackout curtains, retractable seating and a comprehensive staging system. The
design was tailored to the school’s specific requirements and worked within the architect’s remit. A
raised control gallery to one side of the hall offers complete control over the sound, lighting and
projection facilities. Retractable seating allows for 244 seats to be set up in raised rows in less than 10
minutes or be stored almost flat against the wall. A floor to ceiling screen wall stands at one end of the
hall, which makes the perfect projection screen, but its true purpose is to divide the hall from the drama
studio. The hall alone is a used as a teaching space, assembly hall and examination room and the drama
studio can independently be used at the same time, due to this sound proofed partition and separate
access. The rooms however can simply be made into an even larger space when the partition is folded
back into the wall, space for the modular staging to be constructed.

The large space, together with the stage, seating, sound and lighting is perfect for theatrical
performances, recitals, shows and an ideal venue to hire out for community events. The lanterns,
rigged on ceiling mounted lighting bars give a professional edge with the option of different colours,
brightness and focus, plus an independent spot light to follow the action on stage. Speakers are also
mounted on the bars and performers have fixed and radio microphones which are all controlled
through the control gallery. In fact there is dual control, when the rooms are separate, there is
independent control to each room for both sound and light, but as one room, there is also one control. A
full height curtain pulled around the back of the stage gives a backdrop, offer entries and exits from any
part of the stage and makes a back stage area all in one. The stage itself is Q-Build, a design from Stage
Systems which allows for a combination of layouts, multi-level or flat, and a wheelchair ramp to be
attached, it is strong in construction, simple in design and compact to store; all the necessities for a
school stage. Space and storage is an issue in any school. The City of London Academy is no exception,
but with designs and products in place to allow for compact storage and incredible use of space, there is
less of a problem.

What they said:

The school states that “our drama facilities can be used to their full potential due to the foresight of the
design and brilliant use of space.”

This drama, music and arts area adds something extra to this already individual school. With the vision
that the school has to develop high expectation, support achievement and offer a varied curriculum of
activities, the facilities within the school are an important feature of this site. The dynamic use of space
to support a subject area that can inspire students in new and exciting ways is enlightening and a true
picture of how a school can make the very best use of its resources.