Gulfshore Playhouse

Overview 

As Naples’ first professional theater company, Gulfshore Playhouse was founded to fill a void in the community holding interests in performing arts. After years of building a following and bringing Broadway quality shows to southwest Florida, the theater had outgrown its current facility and conducted a competition to design their new home. The winning architects, H3 Hardy Architects and Arquitectonica, designed a distinct, sculpted architectural design that reflects the innovative spirit of the theatre performances within. 

We provided structural engineering and façade consulting services for the 56,000-square-foot performing arts facility, which features a 4,000-seat mainstage theater and 150-seat black-box studio theater. The building includes rehearsal rooms and costume shop, an education wing, public cafe and lounge and a rooftop terrace, along with back-of-house support spaces. 

Highlights 

• The main structural system is composed of steel gravity framing with braced frames, a requirement to resist hurricane wind forces given its proximity to the ocean.
• Located within a flood-prone area, the entire structure sits on concrete piers to elevate it approximately eight feet from the adjacent grade to be above the flood plain elevation.
• We also provided technical advice and consulting services to the client and architect on elements of the façade and waterproofing design, engineering of the façade systems and detailing.
• Our team additionally assisted in system design and specification based on the design intent.