Following last week’s look at an opening for a Net Zero Emerging Leaders Intern at LEVER Architecture, we are using our Job Highlights series this week to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an Auditorium and Seating Designer at Theatre Projects Consultants.

The full-time role, based in Norwalk, Connecticut, calls for a “creative, passionate auditorium and seating designer” with prior experience in theatrical and architectural design. Among the responsibilities for the role will be the design of room forms and seating layouts for a variety of projects, including performance venues, immersive environments, themed entertainment, education, corporate, and public gathering spaces. 

Why the role interests us

Throughout the year, our editorial has seen how the design of performance venues and theaters involves careful engagement across a wide series of scales. On an urban scale, recently completed projects such as OMA’s Taipei Performing Arts Center and Snøhetta’s Hopkins Center for the Arts demonstrate the power of performance venues to become landmark cultural icons for their surrounding context.

At the other extreme, theater design also requires a command of intricate details, including seating layouts that create a connection between performers and the audience, and material choices that do not compromise acoustic quality; choices that can extend down to the material used on the underside of seats themselves.

Through technological advances such as the smartphone and online streaming, performance venue design is also increasingly required to cater to a digital audience, as well as a physical one. The challenge of developing performance spaces in a digital era is one that is often reflected upon by acclaimed designer Es Devlin, who has created stage sets for cultural icons, including Beyoncé and Adele.

“We live in an age of hyper resonance, the consequences of which are both exhilarating and devastating,” Devlin noted in the leadup to the 2020 London Design Biennale, for which she served as artistic director. “In our global, digital era, design can reach instantly across borders and bridge cultures. It can positively alter behaviors and transform societies.”

“Perspectives can be shifted and lives can be improved when new ideas resonate and are adopted by extended communities,” Devlin added. “Designers have the power to influence and amaze their audiences into making these profound shifts, using the mass networks available to them to resonate practices that will help build a more sustainable future.”

Further reading for interested candidates

• Inside DS+R’s newly opened Prior Performing Arts Center (September 2022)
• OMA’s role-defying new theater design debuts in Taipei (May 2022)
• David Rockwell on his favorite historic NYC Broadway theaters (March 2020)
• Rex’s Brown University Performing Arts Center Shape-Shifts to Fill a Campus Void (June 2019)
• Mecanoo’s National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in Taiwan celebrates grand opening (October 2018)
• Michael Wylie on the Far-Out Set Designs of ‘Legion’ (June 2017)
• ‘Friedrich Kiesler: Architect, Artist, Visionary’ at Martin-Gropius-Bau tells, rather than shows, the architect's oeuvre (March 2017)
• Archinect’s ongoing coverage of performance venue design
• Theatre Projects Consultants’ Archinect profile
• Archinect Tips: Employment Edition (November 2020)

Job Highlights is one of a number of ongoing weekly series showcasing the opportunities available on our industry-leading job board. Our Meet Your Next Employer profiles and interviews interesting studios with open positions currently available on Archinect Jobs, while our weekly roundups curate job opportunities by location, career level, and job description.