Last week, we had a chat with local music promoter Mike Cracchiolo about his plans for the Ready Room (4191 Manchester Avenue), a new 800-capacity music venue for the Grove. Says Cracchiolo, "There's only so much that you can plan for. To some degree, you have to let the room and location decide what it wants to be."
The rest, however, is left up to the team laying out the big picture: SPACE Architecture + Design. RFT Music got in touch with the staff at SPACE, who were kind enough to put together some presentation-style renderings to share with everyone.
See also: Mike Cracchiolo Discusses the Ready Room
SPACE headquarters conveniently neighbors the venue-to-be and has designed a number of home and healthcare, educational, work and recreation spaces including Robust Wine Bar, Lumen and Franco.
Owner Tom Niemeier credits staff -- primarily Amy Huff, the project architect -- for the Ready Room's design concept and overall form. The Ready Room is the company's first main music venue project, but it has also designed the outdoor stage at Atomic Cowboy and has done some work for the Gramophone.
When asked about any specific challenges, Niemeier responds, "Budget is always a challenge, but the space adapted well to the use and no significant issues held us up."
The floor plan for the 6,500-square-foot main floor dedicates large areas for the stage, dance area and bar. It also features a box office and green room situated appropriately behind the merchandise stand. According to Niemeier, the stage will be about 30-inches above the main floor, and he looks forward to designing and fabricating the bar in SPACE's shop.
"The space is a raw industrial space, and the design reflects that attitude with abundant use of steel, concrete, and brick," says Niemeier. "The bar is large, over thirty feet, and will probably be a composition of steel and concrete composition with strategic placed lighting to set off the design. This is probably not the place to take your parents."
Only time will tell what sorts of artists, promoters and audiences the Ready Room will draw. Either way, we're excited to see how it pans out. More as we learn it.
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