Collaborative AV design

Cardiff University ENGIN

The School of Engineering is housed inside the Grade II
listed Queen’s Buildings, a Gothic Revival University building. The project
involved the remodelling of two  existing
rooms to create two flexible learning spaces that can accommodate 200 students
and 90 st .. read more

Clinical skills

University of Galway, School or Nursing & Health Sciences

The project involved the refurbishment of a number of
teaching spaces and simulation labs in the School of Nursing & Midwifery
and the School of Health Sciences at the University of Galway.

The vision is to provide educational programmes that prepare
safe, .. read more

New college building

Manchester College

Situated in the heart of Manchester city centre, City Campus
Manchester opened in summer 2022 offering state-of-the-art, industry-standard
facilities. The campus provides both exceptional study and is designed to
ensure students have everything they need to have an ama .. read more

Theatre and studio design

CAPA College

A specialist provision for students aged 16-19 from across the North of England, CAPA College provides full-time training and education in all aspects of creative and performing arts from dance and drama to musical theatre, production arts, film and media.

The groun .. read more

Clinical AV consultancy

National University of Ireland Medical School

The School of Medicine is one of three schools within the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science at the National University of Ireland in Galway. The school offers a wide range of taught and research based postgraduate masters and diploma programmes.

The CS .. read more

AV design for University

Cardiff University Wider Be

The Wider Be (Well Informed Design Education and Research in the Built Environment) was a phased redevelopment of the School of Architecture in the Bute Building at Cardiff University’s main campus.

Bute is a Grade II listed building designed by the esteemed .. read more

Our comprehensive range of services include:

  • Theatre & Performing Arts Consultants for Theatres, Concert Halls and Dance/Drama Studios
  • Creative Media Consultants for  TV, Film, Green Screen, Virtual Production, Motion Capture and Music Recording Studios
  • AV Consultants for Education and Corporate including Lecture Theatres, Meeting Rooms, Teaching Spaces and Clinical Skills
  • Feasibility Studies, Architectural Layouts, Detailed Design & Specification, Seating and Sight Lines Analysis
  • Acoustic Design Service inluding 3D Modelling, Measurements and Testing

Welcome to
Drama by Design Entertainment Technology and AV Consultants

Drama by Design are global independent theatre, acoustics, creative media and AV consultants on all aspects of the design of performing arts, creative media and clinical skills/simulation spaces including auditoria, drama studios, dance studios, voice/audio recording studios, radio studios, film studios, TV studios, music studios, operating theatres and clinical skills labs in the theatre, education, architectural and professional markets. We can get involved at any stage of a project from providing feasibility studies during the initial stages, through to general and/or detailed design, layout and finished, planning, provision of full technical design and specifications for all specialist lighting, sound, av, audio visual, video, communications, stage engineering and seating systems.

With offices in Berkshire covering the south of England and Perthshire covering Scotland and the north of England, we provide AV, theatre and broadcast studio consultancy services in England, Scotland and throughout the UK, Ireland and overseas.

We provide a comprehensive range of solutions to building professionals and owners whether it be for a simple refurbishment of a small school drama studio or design of a new build auditorium or rennovation of an existing theatre or TV studio to brand new clinical skills and simulation centres. If you need to develop your vision into reality, ensure your building is fit for purpose as a venue for performances, events, productions or training or simply need advice on how to move forward, we are here to help.

The services we provide can be grouped into the following main categories:

  • Theatre Consultants – auditorium design, technical specification and project management of all types of theatre venues and performing arts spaces including advice on building layout, seating layouts, sight lines analysis, stage lighting, sound/audio systems, communications, staging, curtains and tracks, audio visual systems, stage engineering and acoustics
  • Audio Visual (AV) Consultants and System Integrators – design, specification and project management/systems integrators of specialist audio visual systems including education, conference, hotel and lecture theatre/seminar room systems
  • TV Studio/Recording Studio/Radio Studio Design Consultants – design and specification of TV and Music Recording/Radio Studio spaces including advice on building layout, studio lighting, sound/audio systems, broadcast video/vision systems and cameras, communications, curtains and tracks, rigging and acoustics
  • Clinical Skills and Simulation Management Consultants – design and specification of AV systems for clinical skills training spaces including full integration of audio and video recording systems for simulation management
  • Acoustics Consultants – full acoustical analysis services including testing and measurement, reverberation time analysis, advice on heating and ventilation systems and acoustic treatment

We have no commercial links with manufacturers, distributors or contractors and can therefore provide a completely independent and impartial design service, providing the most appropriate and cost-effective solutions for each project.

In recent years true collaborative working has become essential to good design. With experience, each consultant learns the other’s skills to make for a true creative process. This tends to happen in the early meetings, when the range of design possibilities is large. For us the process is exciting and rewarding. We are not prescriptive about the design progress, but believe that the best results are achieved through informed discussion and review of ideas. We want to extend the boundaries of design to cater not only for the needs of today, but also for many years in the future using innovative and exciting ideas.

View our portfolio in the following sectors