Stages for social ritual: research question: can aspects of (public) pre-performance space act as a stimulus for informing the broader notion of urban gathering spaces (and of public-ness in architecture)

Abstract

Theatre interiors and urban gathering places are essentially elements of the same condition, that of public architecture. Beyond this commonality however, peoples perception of these respective spaces and the actions contained within them, differs. Commonalities do exist however, within architecture and event, with regard to peoples approach to the theatrical event and, potentially, peoples approach to public spaces. The same notions of interaction and spontaneous social theatre that occur within pre-performance space potentially take place within large urban gathering spaces also. This research makes use of these existing commonalities as a justification for using one condition to inform the other. That is, to use characteristics of pre-performance space to inform urban gathering space.