- Flexibly-designed to accommodate ballet, musical and opera productions.
- Daniel Libeskind’s first theatre, with a capacity of 2,100 seats.
- Delivered on time and budget in less than three years.
The Grand Canal Theatre is landmark project in Ireland. This impressive five-storey and 2,100 seats theatre enhances the new urban structure of Grand Canal Harbour, a new commercial development on the waterfront in Dublin´s Docklands.
The venue has pushed the boundaries of design balancing iconic architecture with the functional requirements of a state of the art touring theatre. The holistic integration of multidisciplinary services contributed to the overall success of this substantially challenging project. Arup was appointed to provide acoustic design and technical theatre systems, as well as civil, structural, building services and traffic engineering.
Engineering to delight
The Grand Canal Theatre is a highly functional and complex building, built within an angular form as designed by Daniel Libeskind. The size and shape of the auditorium is driven by the acoustic and theatre operational requirements. Behind the elegant lines, stunning entrance and captivating auditorium are a host of engineering accomplishments which remain largely hidden.
Complex coordination was developed and solved well in advance of specialist contractor appointment and the building was completed on time and on budget. The challenges put to the design team involving programme and the aspirational aesthetic were met through teamwork, coordination and a shared ethos to excel beyond the ordinary. The resultant building brings beautiful engineering visibly to life, to the local and wider community and demonstrates that world class buildings can be delivered by local Irish engineering companies.
Grand Canal Theatre is a highly functional space, combining aesthetics, quality and energy efficiency without compromise to the architectural vision. The engineering solutions, the complexity of noise controls on the air systems, the lighting, the acoustic modelling and the difficult structural support spans and connections, are at the technical leading edge of each profession.
The building stands as a benchmark of engineering for the subtly of the multidisciplinary design of the space, and in many areas enhanced not only the architecture but also the other aspects of engineering.
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