The Magic Theatre of REM n REX

Whenever you look at a conventional theater, you see a horizontal mass sloping down towards a huge vertical mass, we call a fly tower. Ditch the horizontal part, the Wyly theater will be just about the FLY TOWER. REM and his playmate Joshua Prince-Ramus, designed what was planned to be the most flexible chether in Dallas, if not the world.
"The Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre overcomes these challenges by overturning conventional theater design. Instead of circling front-of-house and back-of-house functions around the auditorium and fly tower, the Wyly Theatre stacks these facilities below-house and above-house. This strategy transforms the building into one big “theater machine....” At the push of a button, the theater can be transformed into a wide array of configurations—including proscenium, thrust, and flat floor—freeing directors and scenic designers to choose the stage-audience configuration that fulfills their artistic desires. Moreover, the performance chamber is intentionally made of materials that are not precious in order to encourage alterations; the stage and auditorium surfaces can be cut, drilled, painted, welded, sawed, nailed, glued and stitched at limited cost. "(excerpts from Arch Daily)


YeS. At the push of the bowtton...like a veyndo machine. Impressive.
Very Rem-ie...I must say, without being too proud, that I already thought of incorporating the context in stage design. But I am neither REM nor Prince Josh, so I accepted the fact they can claim originality.LOL. ok..Enough of my awesomeness.
Nice detail...

The ancillary facilities being hidden is such a modernist's thing. Except this one was done superbly and elegantly....in a Paul Smith-kind of way. So what the spectator is seeing is just the beautiful surface. They don't have to make an effort of going a few steps to go to their seats. They just have to walk right into it. It is so effortless, you save your 10 calories for being too lazy.


It is so open to the street realm, it feels abusive..in a positive way. This is figuratively, the ultimate Black box that is not a black box, but can be a black box.

And I love it!..It's very Rem, open and raw. Is it Joshua Prince-RamusSS'S? I don't know him well yet, but he is kinda Rem-ie too because he named his studio, REX. Short for Rem's eX.
.
A reaction to the Post in Arch Daily
Photo Credits: Iwan Baan and Tim Hursley