Parents fight for fly loft

"the fly is not possible due to the design of the building"

Um, they are still *designing the building*, aren't they?

This just means the architect / design team can't make it pretty enough for their tastes.
 
This just means the architect / design team can't make it pretty enough for their tastes.

While this cynical answer may be correct, I would guess they mean that the foundation, structure, architecture, etc. was already approved by the school and then the architect continued to a high level of detail before the parents started asking for a fly loft.

Design isn't free. Even if going back and re-designing is the right thing to do it would require an additional service to the design contract.
 
Even if going back and re-designing is the right thing to do it would require an additional service to the design contract.

That's a nice theory, but in my experience design professionals seldom get additional services for this kind of change. It would depend how far down the road and what had been committed to. Maybe I get additional services when they add a black box, but to increase seat count by 50% - unlikely if before bidding. Plus even if add services are approved, if its a million dollar add, the design fees won't be significant at 4-6% as is typical for public schools.
 
This just means the architect / design team can't make it pretty enough for their tastes.

Not always. Often it's the school district imposing the requirement on the architect not to have a fly loft. I don't see this as much with smaller school districts but county and metro-wide districts with more schools under their umbrella tend to have a laundry list of operational reasons why they don't want these, and the decision makers at the district level don't always give a damn about the art of theater or the function of the room.

1) Student safety operating rigging
2) Student safety focusing lighting (they'd rather students be on catwalks than ladders)
3) Annual maintenance costs ($3k/year inspection/school -- not bad if you're operating 3 schools with fly lofts -- if you're operating 30 they want to kill this line item out of their district budgets)
4) Pre-conceived notions of what triggers a fire curtain or deluge system being required -- not always based on fact, but it influences the decision very early on the process nonetheless.
5) Cost of rigging systems and associated structure (this is seen as an easy way to recover 6-7 figures of project budget).

Magnet schools tend to get more leeway on these things, but for the average high school it can be a real uphill battle dictated by the owner more than the A/E team, and rising construction costs are only making it a steeper climb.
 
I too find the rural schools and one high school districts more open to the flyloft. These schools also serve as a social center for the remote communities they serve.
 
I don't disagree with Mike's appraisal.

I just tend to the baby/bathwater solution.

"You're not going to let us build a theatre that can actually be *used*?

Fine. Kill it."

[ Anyone who reads in my last line a President Bartlet "Shut it down" delivery has much to go on. :) ]
 
"You're not going to let us build a theatre that can actually be *used*?

I've consulted on a lot of theatres that don't have fly lofts that the users love. There are pluses and minuses to every design. Being able to get to every light over stage via catwalk in a minute or less and not dealing with ladders and lifts is not all bad. Laying out curtains and tracks so they can be pulled against walls and bagged - out of harm's way - seems like a help. Including scenery tracks for drops and scenic pieces provides an ability to do set changes. Is a full working stage with gridiron better? Usually (the K-8 schools is debatable.) But are these hybrid end stages better than none? I think clearly yes based on feedback from the handful of users I stay in touch with.
 
Well, as is suggested many places in this thread (or others here), it does depend on what your goals are.

*I* tend to think that -- at least at high school level and above -- pedagogy should be either first or second on the list of drivers, and it does the pedagogy little good to build a theatre that does *not* reflect the real world they'll end up in later.

Sure, it's more important at the college level, especially in places where there's a formal theatre program, but I don't think that excuses the high-school people, myself.

Opinions will, of course, differ, and no one's paying me for mine.
 

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