Colorado Real Estate Journal - October 4, 2017
Semple Brown announced the completion of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ new Space Theatre (located at the heart of the Helen Bonfils Theatre complex), after a $9 million renovation. “The DCPA has been fortunate to work with Semple Brown for over a decade,” said Clay Courter, vice president of facilities and event services at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. “Semple Brown had a keen understanding of the building’s original architectural integrity and worked diligently to ensure that the new Space Theatre honored the original architect’s stylistic intent while also bringing the facility into the 21st century.” The original theater complex, designed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, opened in 1979 as a purpose-built arts center for a resident theater company with two live theater venues, a cinema and a rehearsal studio. As was typical of the time period, the venues included a main theater, which was larger in capacity and more formal in design (The Stage), and a smaller informal “black-box” theater (The Space), an alternative for new plays and more experimental work. In subsequent years, both the cinema (now the Ricketson Theatre) and the rehearsal space also were converted to live performance facilities, giving the building a variety of differing formats. In 1985, the Denver Center Theatre Co. commissioned Associate Artistic Director and Scenic Designer Richard Hay to convert the existing black-box theater into a theater-in-the-round with five seating banks and three levels of balconies. By 2010, however, the DCPA recognized that multiple areas of the theater complex needed updating to address shifts in audience expectations and programming needs. DCPA commissioned Denver-based Semple Brown to evaluate opportunities and help prioritize phased improvements, the first of which was a renovation of the lobby completed in 2011 (including relocating the box office, enlarging the café, increasing patron seating, and decluttering signage and graphics). The second project iteration converted little-used office space to a new patron and special events room: the Directors’ Room. And the third phase identified was the Space Theatre renovation. After more than three decades and some 400 productions, a 2014 assessment determined that the theater needed improvements to its audience amenities, performance infrastructure, circulation, code compliance, support spaces and accessibility to meet the needs of the future. Led by Semple Brown, a team consisting of Theatre Projects, K2, Martin/Martin and MKK Consulting Engineers set out to improve all of the identified areas while retaining everything that was beloved about the theater. While the size of the performance area is nearly identical, the pentagonal shape of the room has been maintained. “There is a fine line to walk with the design of such an intimate theater-in-the-round,” said Chris Wineman, principal of Semple Brown. “Since the architecture surrounds the performance, we have to be able to focus the energy of the room and support all of the functionality – without competing with the play for visibility.” Turner Construction was the contractor for The Space Theatre project. Its team of subcontractors included The Weifield Group and RK Steel. Additional performing arts projects designed by Semple Brown underway include the University of Colorado Colorado Springs’ ENT Center for the Performing Arts and the University of Northern Colorado’s Campus Commons.