So what's this?

If you would like to see what the project turned into as a final product, click here directly for what is called the Luminoceros project.

This page is a kind of scrap-book, a collection that I'm putting together for a new project. In a nutshell it hopes to be a miniature Opera House that is big enough for a couple of performers to play on. I have spent the last few weeks reading a lot, looking at real theatres and watching performances. Sometimes I have little realisations, other times they are curious parts of a puzzle that I haven't tried to connect yet.

Usually I do this in a big book, but I thought it might be interesting to put my research book into a 'public space' since the intention is to create something FOR a public space. What is a public space anyway? I read a magazine the other day with some nice quotes which I will add soon but it implied that the most public space right now is online. So this is a reaction to that provocation.

Feel free to browse, comment if you like, I'm interested in reactions and will be sending links to a few people to see if I can find the through line. I'll try to update this regularly. You may notice that it is all in reverse with most recent first so reading this may be like some kind of archeological dig.

(not real date of entry, it's just so it stays at the top)

This is some of the quick sketches in my book recently, mostly looking at the most obvious ways of creating visual illusion in a simple space. There are some notes at the end, mostly me trying to work out what I think the relationship between light and the physical world is. I know that's a little bit old fashioned of me to think in those terms, but I feel like i need to figure that out to proceed with this.

Maquette number two

So here it is - the second conceptual model, which has managed to solve a lot of the initial problems. The big difference is that the stage is in the middle of the structure with audience on all four sides. This allows everyone to feel like they are inside the belly of the same great fish. I had initially put a second level with all the way around too but on reflection decided there was advantage to having it on one side as this creates a kind of natural hierarchy that the actors must address or overcome.
(This model is made of cooking skewers but represents approximately 6m across and 5m high)

The first thing you notice is how intimate the space is. It forces the audience almost onto the stage, I like this because they will truly impact on the performance itself, unable to be faceless figures in the dark as we are so often used to in conventional theatres.

By my figuring there is enough room for just over 50 people in the space (depending on whether or not you use the area under the mezzanine for public)

But here is the exciting bit... I wired the model up with some LED lights (explaining the blueish tint) and introduced a few wire-framed figures. These are the shadows those 3 or 4 lights managed to throw.


This is a shot from above with shadows on the walls of my bathroom. I like the ambiguity of scale and the confused layering of imagery that multiple light sources can throw.




So now I need to turn this conceptual model into a living breathing structure. Now we get down to structural details like how much load it needs to take from people and more importantly wind hitting the side like a sail.

More on that later.