Digital methods have become the predominant approach to architectural research and design over the past decades and its applications range from abstract form-finding to construction detailing and management. The success of a computational design method is in its ability to enable the architect to convey an architectural concept while gaining access and maintaining proximity to the pragmatic requirements and repercussions involved. 



This paper presents the results of a research on computational methods, for the design of theatrical spaces. We demonstrate a procedural model of thinking supported by a set of tools we implemented for assisting the design process. Our approach adopts many of the existing knowledge in theatrical design, challenges traditional ideas of understanding the theatrical space and proposes methods for evaluating its architectural performance. Overall our goal is to establish a methodological framework of design empowered by digital technologies.



The field of theatrical design encompasses an extensive body of knowledge covering a broad and diverse set of expertise required for the successful design of both a spatial configuration and a human condition. This knowledge is captured by a typological and regulatory set of principles distilled from a wide range of theoretical studies, scientific contributions and built architectural precedents. The domain of scientific computation and engineering has been involved with the auditory and lighting performance of theatrical spaces. Architectural computation is typically solely concerned with their formal expression. We situate our research within the context of an informed investigation of architectural problem spaces through dynamic digital technologies.



Our approach is focused on a subset of the domain of the theatrical design. Specifically, we investigate attributes of space arising from both its overall shape and elementary configuration, and reflect in its performance in terms of visual comfort and circulation. Combinations of non-homogeneous analytical design metrics are synthesized for capturing qualitative aspects of the theatrical space. 



We created programmatic and parametric tools for initially embedding the traditional knowledge captured in analogue contraptions such as the sightlines into our system. In this respect we attempt to establish a historical continuity and a common ground for communication. Moreover, we expanded this set of methods by introducing contemporary digital practices, based on spatial quantization and finite element processing, for accessing a certain range of highly involved design metrics such as spatial occlusion, accessibility and integration. All of which brings us in a position of revealing spatial aspects which were impractical to obtain in the past and may prove potentially valuable in the future developments of architectural design, computation and cognition.



 
