La Scala Theater,
Voyager of the Seas
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
This unique theatre project involved the design of a 1,350-seat theater in the bow of Voyager of the Seas, the then world’s largest cruise ship, launched in November 1999. Scott Wilson and Scott Butler were approached as designers experienced in the design of theatres on land, and asked to compete for the design of a ship-board theatre that would bring the best of highly-functioning land-based theatres to the special demands of maritime design. Wilson Butler’s successful design is the first ship board theater ever designed with a full-fly loft that reaches up into four decks, and the first of what has become the firm’s long list of highly acclaimed and highly functioning theatres at sea. Since then Wilson Butler has designed 15 main theatres for Royal Caribbean and their affiliated company, Celebrity Cruises.
“La Scala”’s design, as the name implies, was inspired by 19th-century European opera houses and combines a traditional horseshoe shape theater with opera house flourishes. A parterre and full balcony surround the orchestra and are dramatized by two-story tall copper-clad columns. Balcony fronts are cloaked in crushed velvet and leather bunting. Ornate silk valences ring a domed ceiling that sparkles with tiny fiber optic lights. The focal point of the dome is a Venetian glass chandelier.
Studio B, Voyager of the Seas
Award
Winning Design
“Best Overall Interior Design
on a Cruise Vessel”, UK’s Cruise + Ferry Awards 2001
Project
Info
Cost:
not available
Complete:
November 1999
Scope:
Architecture, Interior Design, Construction Review
Client:
Royal Caribbean International
Staff:
Scott Butler, AIA; Scott Wilson, AIA; Barbara Sherman, IIDA; Tom Hains
