Caroline Fishpool, Principal at SA’s Wirreanda Secondary School had a dream - to develop a state of the art theatre facility the whole school community may be proud of for years to come.
Wiltshire Swain Architects proactively approached Select Staging Concepts nearly 2 years ago to custom design the permanent Stage, Access Ramp and Stage Curtain system in the proposed new build School Theatre.
Using Select Staging Concept’s premium QUATTRO system, to maximise the overall Stage area and maintain the desired Stage height a new Access Ramp Safety Rail system was designed to attach to the Ramp through the Ramp Floor Podiums rather than on the exterior edge. This ensured the double return shaped Access Ramp with two turning point Landings snuggly fit into the small allocated area, and maintain the correct Australian Standards criteria in the continuous Ramp Hand Rail system.
Ease of access to the Stage area is provided with full length sets of Stage Steps on the side and front of the Stage, plus the midpoint Ramp Landing has a small rear Step – all Steps safely providing access for multitudes of performance and event needs.
In the past, the school community hired the beautiful Hopgood Theatre, and so desired a new school Theatre with professional curtaining to frame the Stage and Ramp. Our curtain system partners, Reveal Productions, provided a great team to assist design and install a complete ceiling Curtain Truss system prior to the full Stage, Access Ramp and Curtain system install.
FDC Building SA successfully tendered for the project build and were a pleasure to work with so we could finally successfully complete the project. With COVID affecting tightly scheduled install days, the projects’ custom designed QUATTRO Stage, Access Ramp and full Stage Curtain system were finally successfully completed on time in mid April 2021.
Since the install, the school requested we add some totally removeable safety Hand Rails for use at the rear of the Stage when the Cyclorama Curtain is not in use, and designed to simply slot onto the existing permanent Ramp Hand Rails when needed.
A grand opening is in the pipeline once COVID allows the gathering of the Wirreanda Secondary School community and we wish them all the best – a magnificent legacy for all.
