Theater | Auditorium Layouts
Theaters and auditoriums are venues designated for the performance of plays, music, dance, and other performative arts. Theater layouts function to facilitate an appropriate and safe visitor experience as well as formally define the performance and audience spaces. The arrangement of these spaces, most often manifesting as the stage and audience seating, are what will define the theater. Theater layouts can range from that of an open-air amphitheater, to much larger, grandiose structures, to simple, undecorated rooms or black box theaters. Some theater layouts will have fixed stages where the performances take place, whereas some theaters will provide for more flexibility.
The primary concern of theater design is elevating the audience’s experience through architectural means. A huge part of an audience having a positive experience is comfort and the factors that achieve this include: keeping a standard distance for seating, choosing the right kind of stage, maintaining quality in both sound and visibility, and having a certain amount of flexibility in design.
The range of seats in an average movie theater is 200 to 300, although the exact number is dependent on the size of the theater and size of the screen. For an average-sized theater, being able to seat 150 attendees can be considered a required minimum.
When theaters are designed, a technician will test the visual and sound quality at certain spots. This calibration area is considered the best place to be in a movie theater: two-thirds back from the screen in the center of the row. Audiences will naturally find themselves moving towards the middle, so knowing which row (distance from the screen) is important.
