Theatre of Three Horizons: Re-Design of Ballet Building, St James Theatre, Wellington

Abstract

The title 'Theatre of Three Horizons' is derived from the three opposing and sequential zones which define the St James Theatre experience: outside is Courtenay Place and inside is the St. James Theatre. The space being explored and challenged in this design research investigation – the ballet building – is a place of the in-between, the intermediate region between the reality of the outside (Courtenay Place) and the illusion of the inside (St James Theatre). The programme for this in-between space is also triptych, composed of three discrete elements; the studios for the Royal New Zealand Ballet above, the private and hidden 'servant' spaces below ground, and the hospitality spaces for the St James theatre in-between. As a third triptych, and on a theoretical level, this site represents a critical threshold between the instrumentality of the pop entertainment culture of Courtenay Place and the autonomy of the historical St James Theatre. The new interior architecture of the ballet building aims to find the connection between both worlds, and to ease the visitor from one world to the other. The three programmes are translated vertically into three formal horizons: the Above, Intermediate and Below. The Above represents the ephemeral nature of ballet and the lightness and movement associated with the dance. Below ground lie the hidden spaces in which the private and unknown activities occur, such as the mechanics of the building. The Intermediate is a transitional zone, literally a pathway which links and divides the ethereal Above from the hidden spaces Below. It contains earthly and humanist activities such as eating, drinking, and gathering. Across the Three Horizons, each visitor experiences the trilogy of the ephemeral, the threshold and the solid hidden below. The Three Horizons allow visitors to participate in a theatrical act, to witness and become a part of theatre themselves before entering the St James and transitioning themselves through time and space, from reality to illusion.