Multi-purpose halls… Wave of a new future or dead-end?

Abstract

Multi-purpose halls, that is, performance spaces that can adapt their acoustical and technical features to serve many different performance types are a uniquely North American invention. Europe, where the modern-day symphony orchestra, opera company, ballet company, and drama troupe all originated, favors halls that are purpose-built to serve each art form. In the United States and Canada, even in cities that could afford to field multiple ensembles or companies, building dedicated facilities for each art form was often a bridge too far. This gave rise to the multi-purpose hall and with it the old saw that multi-purpose meant no-purpose. The success of new venues in Charleston, San Antonio, León, México, and elsewhere demonstrates that multi-purpose halls are cost-effective solutions and that they need not be the compromises they once were. The authors will explore the development of multi-purpose halls starting with Louis Sullivan’s Auditorium Theater in Chicago, arguably the forerunner of the contemporary multi-purpose hall, through to the current day. The authors will also explore how the evolving creative impulses of artists and directors is challenging designers to go even further, and incorporate degrees of flexibility into these spaces that would have been unimaginable just two decades ago.