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“Shaw Town” offers a reimagined and reminiscent performance venue

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Rebecca Maloney Rebecca Maloney Americas Press Office ,Boston
8 July 2015

Arup provided acoustic consulting and structural engineering services in collaboration with the Design With Company for Ragdale's pop-up performance venue.

Ragdale, one of the largest nonprofit artists’ communities in the country, launched an international competition to redesign and reconstruct the Ragdale Ring performance venue, originally designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw in 1912. “Shaw Town,” Design With Company’s winning concept, references specific architectural features from Shaw’s original buildings in the Chicago area — such as the rooftops of Market Square in Lake Forest (1916) and the Quadrangle Club at the University of Chicago (1920) — and repurposes them using contemporary materials into a performance space with audience-friendly pillows.

The 2015 Ragdale Ring winning design consists of two parts: a wooden box and twenty foam cushions. Resembling a large-scale toy box when not in use, the stage lowers and the cushions spill out in preparation for a performance. Common design motifs from Shaw include nestling silhouettes, tectonic decoration, and repetition in groupings of three — executed in dimensional lumber and plywood. The project revisits and recasts fragments of his buildings to be experienced anew in foreign contexts, out of scale, and in unfamiliar materials.

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Our unique acoustic and structural analysis tools were utilised to collaboratively inform design decisions with the architects – allowing all members of the design team and the owner to participate in the development and refinement of the ultimate performance space. The simple but eloquent and efficient structure optimises acoustic engagement and enhances the artist and audience experience for the summer program. ”

Ryan Biziorek Ryan Biziorek Associate Principal, Acoustics, Audiovisual, and Theatre Consulting

Arup provided acoustic consulting and structural engineering services for this temporary outdoor performance stage. We optimised the structure for a range of unamplified performances including music, drama, and poetry readings. Our analysis utilised a proprietary in-house 3D acoustic raytracing tool set. The resultant recommendations preserved the architectural concept while greatly improving acoustic intimacy and uniformity of coverage to both the audience and performance areas.

Structural analysis and detailing was also critical to the project’s success. Without encroaching on the aesthetic, connection details for the unique features of the shape had to be kept simple as many construction team members were volunteers. Arup also created a 3D structural analysis model to ensure the structure would not be damaged in high wind velocities typical of Chicago summer thunderstorms.