Architecture, performing arts students win top award in design competition

Published: April 7, 2011

CLEMSON — A team comprising four senior architecture students and a performing arts student from Clemson University won the top award in the Ideal Theatre Student Design Competition. 

The United States Institute for Theater Technology, a national association for performing arts and entertainment professionals, hosted the national competition.

The Clemson team members received the Honor Award for their renovation plan for the Astro movie theater building in downtown Clemson. Under the leadership of Clemson architecture professor Robert Bruhns, the students — Charles Kane, Allender Stewart, Michael Deere, Evaline Dadulla and Harry Averett  — conceived a project that transformed the unused movie house into a multipurpose performance facility that would host both university and community productions.

“We imagined that theater, dance and music students would used the space,” said Averett, a third-year performing arts major who was a consultant on the project. “The concept would serve as a way to reinvigorate live entertainment and art downtown.”

Open to colleges and universities from the United States and abroad, the competition was judged by a panel of architects and theater design specialists. Entries were evaluated for site analysis, sustainability principals, project development and other criteria.

The Astro project called for the adaptive reuse of the property and existing building, utilizing salvageable pieces of the decaying structure. 

“This way the design does not develop any new land,” said architecture student Deere.

The project also envisions transforming the theater’s parking lot into a green space that would connect two existing city parks as a community gathering and performing area.

The Clemson team was one of three finalists invited to the institute's national convention in Charlotte. The other two teams are graduate architecture students from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and Woodbury University in San Diego.

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