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UW Hagey Hall Renovation-Addition | 3 fl | Completed
#1
University of Waterloo
Arts Expansion - Hagey Hall Expansion

The university is planning to fill in the Hagey Hall interior, with a new arts "building".

   

Existing:
   
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#2
Some concepts and renders that I saw displayed at the Alumni Theatre night last night. They were soliciting donations, as well as advertizing "Naming Opportunities".

   
   
   
   
   
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#3
   

So say goodbye to the under-used Hagey Hall courtyard. I've always felt its a minor shame that it isn't used as an exterior performance venue more (i.e. at all). It's got a neat set of built in seating. Very 70s. Too bad it's too cold for the majority of the Arts school year.
   
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#4
Both the Humanities Theatre and the Theatre of the Arts seem very under-utilized to me.  I recall going to Hagey Hall when it hosted KW Symphony concerts in the days before CITS and it worked reasonably well as a serious music venue.  Perhaps they are too expensive for community groups to use?

I wonder what will become of the sculptures in the courtyard.  Funny to think that was was once so modern now has retro appeal.
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#5
(11-12-2014, 05:47 PM)panamaniac Wrote: Both the Humanities Theatre and the Theatre of the Arts seem very under-utilized to me.  I recall going to Hagey Hall when it hosted KW Symphony concerts in the days before CITS and it worked reasonably well as a serious music venue.  Perhaps they are too expensive for community groups to use?

Just looked into it, Humanities is $800 per day, plus 10% of sales, plus $1.50 per ticket sold and you have to use their tech crew. The Centre in the Square is $4000 or 11% of sales, whichever is larger. 
River Run Centre is similar size the Humanites, and it is $1,285 or 12%.
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#6
Interesting then that it doesn't seem to be a matter of cost. I wonder what the issue(s) is/are?
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#7
My guess is that it would depend on class schedules and University related evenings. From a production standpoint, I wonder what the green-room and back stage areas are like.

Finally, getting there can appear to be a problem. In reality, they are fairly close to parking and transit, but psychologically, they may seem to be far from things. If you take the UW south campus area (eg between University and Columbia), it is comparable in size to downtown Kitchener. In Kitchener, walking a few blocks to a venue from you transportation mode of choice seems very close, whereas on campus, it sometimes feels like it's over the edge of the earth.
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#8
Having performed in Hagey Hall 7 years now...

HH's main drawback is that it's an antiquated facility.  It's 40 years old, and was built for the needs of theatre 40 years ago. They can't attract modern plays and musicals because they don't have the requirements of the traveling companies.

They still do some music performances, but being a proscenium stage, it means that for larger orchestras, you lose a lot of the sound to the back stage, which, irony-of-ironies, is designed to muffle sound as much as possible.

Parking is at the mercy of UW parking services, and currently it's $5. Compare that to CitS, where it's either free if you're early, or expensive if you're late.


What has then happened, is that Hagey Hall fills an interesting niche:
A 700-seat theatre, for low technical-requirements stage productions.

Which, in the end, means dance compeditions. So. Many. Dance. Competitions.

(and FASS)
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#9
Just to note that I attended the "Importance of Being Earnest" production last night at the refurbished Theatre of the Arts (Modern Languages).  They have made a good job of it - the facility looked very good.  The addition of a catwalk suspended from an opening across (around?) the ceiling was pretty clever, I thought.
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#10
Yeah, ML's looking great. The new sound/lighting booth looks like it's pretty swank. And a lot better than the far-off-to-the-side booths with tiny windows they had before.

I wouldn't be surprised if HH gets a major renovation in the next 10 years. They had a minor one 2 years ago, to add a new dressing room, and connect the build room/loading dock to the storage in the basement (and provide an off-stage route between the left and right wings). But that doesn't change much of the technical debt of the theatre.
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#11
The Daily Bulletin reports that this expansion has been approved by the University Board:
http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca/2015/feb/17tu.html

Also, I found a page with the actual renderings that I had previously taken photos of:
https://uwaterloo.ca/arts-student-space-...space-look
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#12
Looks like it will be nice. The current Hagey Hall is ugly and impossible to get around.
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#13
I didn't think HH was particularly nice way back in the 80s. This one has a lot of potential (and I won't say the same about a lot of other on-campus building projects).
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#14
This can officially be listed as "Completed".  The building soft-opened in January and the grand opening occurred on Friday, February 10.  The story was also featured in the student newspaper, Imprint on February 14.  The new space was christened the "Hagey Hall Hub"

[Image: hageyhub-crop.jpg?itok=UXbzheya]
(despite the warm weather this week, this was actually an older photo)

[Image: IMG_1161-1.jpg?resize=640%2C427]

As well, at some point in the future, Ron Baird's displaced three-part sculpture, "Fountainsmay make an appearance elsewhere on campus after talking to the artist and the campus community.  In an interesting side note, Ron Baird also did the two sculptures, "Kaleidoscope" and "Dancing Umbrellas" at the Boardwalk
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