Tower Theater designers earn award

The architects for Liberty University’s Tower Theater earned a professional design award recently from the Virginia Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers.

BCWH Architects in Richmond, Va., earned first place in the Contract Institutional category at the ASID’s annual IDEAs (Interior Design Excellence Awards) presentation.

The judges pointed out the amazing conversion of the industrial space (an 85-foot tower that was originally part of a cell phone plant) and the great design follow-through.

The $7 million project broke ground in October 2009 in the only undeveloped portion of Liberty’s 1 million-square-foot Campus North building. The contemporary-style, 640-seat theater consists of balcony seating, an orchestra pit, catwalks, a fly tower (an intricate system of ropes and pulleys that can move Broadway-size sets and scenery), a box office and 12,000 square feet of support area that includes dressing rooms, a practice room, offices, costume shop, prop room and woodworking and scene shops. The existing lobby also received a facelift.

Tower Theater opened for its first season on Sept. 24, 2010.

• To see a schedule of the 2011-12 theater season, and for ticket information, go to the Theatre Arts webpage.