Thank you all for your quick responses. This has been excellent. As we seem to have moved towards talking about restoration, I'd like to highlight what was recently done to the Bardavon
Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Built in 1869, the theater has gone through three major restorations to date. During the late 20th-century, they even had a wrecking ball and demo crew outside the loading door ready to tear the
stage house and would have succeeded had it not been for a very dedicated group of supporters and friends of the theater. The theater has been declared an architechtual landmark by New York State and receives rather extensive funding from various historical societies and organizations.
Several years ago it received a rather large grant to update the
stage house (everything from the
plaster line and upstage). As a result, the entire
stage house was gutted, a new floor was put down, new bridges, rails, and loading levels were installed that were up to code and could support our standard weight levels, a new
dimmer floor was built for our two
ETC Sensor Racks, more storage areas added, up-to-code fire protection,
etc. The Bardavon, being a historical
house, must remain a hemp (poly-blend as it now is) and
sandbag house. Sure it takes longer to get things ready to fly and such, but we have very experienced hands on our pin rails whom we all trust extensively. Most recently, we just moved around all the loft and head blocks to accommodate a
line set every 9". The
house itself is beautiful and incredibly ornate. There is a very large push in the community to
restore the soundboard and walls back to their former glory which were long painted over. There are several exposure windows throughout the
house that give audience members a hint as to what they might look like. We are currently working on scrims to hang over our
line array to make them "blend" a little better into the overall architecture of the
house.
kovacika- fully sustainable in every sense of the word. We would have a large enough solar or wind (depending on the location)
array to sell back to the
grid substantially during the day so that our accumulated usage during the evening would eventually = 0. Hydrogen is a possibility -- we'll have to see where that industry is in a few years. Climate control accomplished by geo-thermal (reinforced by
electric heaters/AC) which is a carbon
neutral process aside from the materials -- as are solar and wind energy.
We will have an extensive
network of local farmers and growers whom we will support tremendously. I hope to
purchase all the food for my employees, as well as for the audience, from local producers. We will have a bio-diesel refueling station on site for all the touring productions to refill at their convenience, created from corn and whatnot from local farmers.
Trucks will never be allowed to idle -- shore
power ALWAYS available.
Obviously, the full compliment of recycling practices will be implemented. We'll use the vegetable oil from the kitchens to
power all the company vehicles.
Audience members will be encouraged to carpool or use mass-transit. Free parking or discounted tickets for those who do. W/e, some sort of incentive.
Touring groups will be educated as to how to decrease their impact as they
walk in the door. There won't be any unnecessary lamps burning or energy or sound waste. Sound pollution is a real thing as well.
Carbon offsets will be made during the initial building process to counteract the shipping of materials and the way their removal from the environment will affect the environment. Not sure yet how these will be accomplished.
These are just some of the many ideas myself and my group of interested parties have in mind. Always open to suggestions or thoughts -- I want not only myself and the people whom have already dedicated themselves to the future of this project, but also the rest of the industry to feel a sense of ownership over this project. I want this
venue to be a place where a touring LD or crew member can feel at home, can be relaxed, can have the best crew with the easiest load-ins and outs, with the nicest management and the easiest
stage to work on and feel good that for once on their tour, their lighting and sound and trucks are not negatively affecting the environment.