The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage | The Plan
  1. Home
  2. Magazine 2009
  3. The Plan 038
  4. The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage

Renzo Zecchetto Architects

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage
By Michael Webb -

Los Angeles, too often dismissed as “tinsel town” for its association with the entertainment industry, is a vibrant hub of the performing arts, with sophisticated audiences and an abundance of local talent. The LA Philharmonic fills the 2400 seats of Walt Disney Concert Hall for its adventurous programs of classical music, and the LA Opera has sold out the cavernous Chandler Pavilion for a succession of acclaimed productions. The problem - for performers and audiences alike - is a shortage of theaters that combine ideal sight lines and exemplary acoustics. Lacking the generous state subsidies that sustain intimate halls in Europe, American auditoria are shaped by the need to generate revenue from ticket sales and to attract corporate sponsorship.
That bothered Dale Franzen, who had sung opera for 23 years in jewel-box theaters all over Europe, and understood the value of engaging an audience, face to face. To create a showcase for challenging music, opera, theater and dance, she enlisted the support of Santa Monica Community College, a lively institution in west LA that strives to educate an audience far beyond its campus. Their shared vision sparked a quintessentially American hybrid. Dustin Hoffman (who took his first drama class at SMC) led the fund-raising, the city of Santa Monica approved a bond issue, philanthropist Eli Broad provided an endowment, and the Broad Stage opened its doors in October.
The 499-seat theater was designed by Renzo Zecchetto, a Chilean-born architect who has designed houses and institutions from his office in Santa Monica over the past two decades. As a graduate, he was studying the Jesuits’ wooden buildings in Patagonia when he chanced to read The Place of Houses, a treatise co-authored by Charles Moore, and, on impulse, went to work for him in California. There he designed an arts center theater that reminded Franzen of the Rome Opera, and a bond was forged. “From the start, I knew they wanted a versatile, high-quality...

Proceed with your preferred purchase option to continue reading
Digital

Digital

5.49 €
Print

Print

15.00 €
Subscription

Subscription

From 35.00 €
Keep up with the latest trends in the architecture and design world

© Maggioli SpA • THE PLAN • Via del Pratello 8 • 40122 Bologna, Italy • T +39 051 227634 • P. IVA 02066400405 • ISSN 2499-6602 • E-ISSN 2385-2054