January 13, 2017
Studio Gang’s Writers Theatre has received the 2017 AIA National Honor Award for Interior Architecture.
While functional requirements of performance venues often dictate opaque volumes, the 36,000-sf Writers Theatre is instead a transparent cultural anchor that embraces its community. A double-height lobby provides a flexible space for outreach, gatherings, and performances, with glass doors that open to the adjacent park. Clad in wood hewn from the site, box office and concessions are treated as furniture, integrated into flexible lobby tribune seating. A canopy walk hung from timber trusses provides an open-air gathering place before, after, and between shows. The two stages are configured to enhance the intimacy for which Writers is known while creating new opportunities for innovative performance.