University of Virginia
Ruth Caplin Theatre
Project
Ruth Caplin Theatre
Client
University of Virginia
Location
Charlottesville, VA
Completion
2013
Size
24,000 GSF
Certification
LEED Silver
Category
Renovations + Additions, The Arts, Campus Innovations
Following our firm’s Arts Precinct Master Plan, completed in 2001, this addition to UVA's Drama Building features a new 300-seat multi-use Theater. Designed to heighten “thrust” experience (with audience surrounding the stage on three sides), the venue also accommodates film and dance. The project provides a new transparent façade (in front of the existing Drama Building) fronting on the Arts Quad, a steeply sloping green space that is the heart of the Master Plan. The building is fully integrated into the hillside, and is capped by a vegetated roof terrace. This glassy “Theater in the Landscape” fosters strong connections among the Arts disciplines that surround the quadrangle.
STUDENT THEATRE PERFORMANCES
The play "Seven Guitars" is performed at the Ruth Caplin Theater
A performance of the Marvelous Wonderettes
A production of "Every Tongue Confess" takes place in the theater
A performance of "You Can't Take it With You"
Awards + Recognition
2018 National AIA-CAE/SCUP Excellence in Architecture for Building Additions or Adaptive Reuse Honorable Mention
2018 USITT Architecture Honor Award
2016 AIA New England Design Citation
2016 Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award
Project Consultants
Structural Engineer | LeMessurier Consultants, Inc.
Mechanical / Electrical Engineer | R.W. Sullivan
Civil Engineer | Dewberry & Davis
Landscape Architect | Olin Partnership
Theater Consultant | Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc.
Acoustical Engineer | Threshold Acoustics LLC
Sustainability Consultant | The Green Engineer
Photographer | Robert Benson, Sanjay Suchak + Mona Kasra