The architecture of QPAC’s new Glasshouse Theatre is unlike that of any other building in the world.
With its instantly recognisable rippling glass façade, every aspect has been designed to reflect Brisbane’s cultural identity.
Home-grown designers Blight Rayner Architecture in partnership with global Norwegian practice Snøhetta were inspired by this poem written by First Nations Elder Aunty Lilla Watson in 2006:
“Beneath the Southern Cross,
and the canopy of the rainforest along the river bank,
the Kurilpa, which still survives here,
dug out its nests, and left its tracks.
They looked out over the river,
the ripples on its surface stirred by the wind and tidal surge,
and the fish swimming in the water.”
Blight Rayner Director Michael Rayner said the idea for the undulating glass façade stemmed from the poem which mentions the “ripples” of the Brisbane River and “fish swimming” beneath.
“We thought to make the transparent façade a setting for a kind of public theatre where people in the foyers would be seen variously clear and blurred from the street,” Mr Rayner said in a statement.
“And we wanted to embed the beginnings of First Nations narratives related to the context into the design.”
One of these narratives relates to seven skylights in the roof which represent the seven watersheds of Queensland, according to research by First Nations Edler Aunty Colleen Wall.
These are complemented by a sculpture titled Floriate by Torres Strait Islander artist Brian Robinson which features seven emblematic flowering plants that grow in abundance across Queensland.
Nearly eight years in the making, the opening of the 1,500 seat venue has officially made QPAC the largest performing arts centre under one roof in Australia. It is capable of presenting world-class ballet, dance, symphony, opera, theatre, and musical productions.
Blight Rayner and Snøhetta won an international design competition for the project in May 2019.
The brief had allowed for the building to cantilever six metres out onto its two street frontages in a bid to fit the required size onto the site.
The architects’ idea was to create a highly transparent edge to the cantilever to maximise its visual impact. Seen through it, the theatre “block” aligns with the existing building design as one part of the strategy to respect the heritage status of QPAC and its original architect Robin Gibson.
Blight Rayner Director Jason Blight said in a statement the architecture was designed to maximise the engagement between the public life of the city and the performing arts, and to make the arts feel more accessible.
The rippled glass walls provide a dramatic foyer entry. The glass has been highly engineered for thermal performance and fabricated in four layers to allow for an air gap.
The building’s energy performance is optimised, and glare minimised by a black ceramic inlay that acts as an integrated louvre to block solar penetration.
The light airiness of the foyers contrast dramatically with the theatre interior – a cocoon of dark grey ironbark walls and rainforest green carpet.
Snøhetta Australasia Managing Director Gumji Kang said the theatre was designed to operate like a finely tuned instrument – adjustable to support world-class productions.
“We have been inspired by the qualities of stringed instruments to combine technical precision with atmospheric intimacy, enriched by layered timber ribbons that feel quintessentially Queensland,” Mr Kang said in a statement.
The atmosphere inside is incredibly intimate for patrons and performers because the distance from the stage to the furthest seat is only 28 metres – three metres longer than a half-size Olympic pool.
The wrap-around balconies further enhance the cocooning feeling.
The orchestra pit has three floor sections that can be raised or lowered independently to accommodate orchestras of different sizes, and there are four different pit configurations – two more than convention.
The theatre rigging or fly system is fully-automated, with the fly tower standing at 24 metres high and fly lines extending out for objects and performers to reach far out over the audience.
QPAC Chief Executive Rachel Healy said in a statement the Glasshouse Theatre would allow for an extra 300,000 people, increasing visitation to 1.6 million visitors a year for the complex which includes four other theatres.
KEY FACTS
- The glass façade consists of two tiers of seven-metre high panels, with an overall height of 14.28 metres. It was manufactured by Austrian company Seele which also created the renowned 5th Avenue Apple retail store in New York
- The auditorium has two levels with 1,000 seats in the stalls and 500 at the balcony level – a gradual elevating of the seating enhances sightlines up through the stalls
- The automated rigging or fly system has 107 hoists and 29km of steel wire controlling theatre scenery, lighting rails, battens and curtains, and moving bars up and down at up to 1.8 metres per second. There are 100 fly bars in the fly tower, all fully automated
- An in-house digital broadcast suite enables live performances to be broadcast to towns and cities Australia-wide, including livestream production in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos sound quality
- Aunty Lilla Watson’s prose poem which inspired the glass façade is displayed as part of a visual artwork at the entry to kuril dhagun in the nearby State Library of Queensland.
