thumb Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium (widely known as Gammage Auditorium and often called the Gammage ) is named for Dr. Grady Gammage, President of Arizona State University (ASU) from 1933 to 1959. The auditorium is located on the main campus of Arizona State University in Tempe at the crossroads of Mill avenue and Apache Boulevard. It is considered to be the last public commission of architect Frank Lloyd Wright (and reputed to be based on Wright's drawings for an opera house in Baghdad, Iraq, of which, legend has it, Wright lost the blueprint in a gambling wager with Gammage ). Groundbreaking took place and construction on Gammage began on May 231962. It took 25 months to complete. The built-on-time, under-budget building opened in 1964 with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

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Structure and subsequent changes

The structure measures long by wide by high. Fifty concrete columns support the round roof with its pattern of interlocking circles. Twin "flying buttress" pedestrian ramps extending from the north and east sides of the structure connect the building to the parking lot. The auditorium seats a total of 3,017 people on its main floor, grand tier and balcony. The stage can be adapted for grand opera, Broadway musicals, dramatic productions, solo productions, organ recitals and lectures .

Performance and other spaces

Auditorium : Has a total seating capacity of 3017, with 88 removable seats. It is wheelchair accessible and has an infrared system for thirty hearing impaired people (in addition to signers).

Stage

• Stage type: proscenium
• Playing space dimensions: 64'x33' or 64'x40'
• Proscenium opening: 64'x30'
• Height grid/ceiling: 78'
• Stage floor type: Sprung wood
• Stage floor covering: Marley
• Rigging system type: 30 double purchase, 28 hydraulic (58 lines total)

Backstage

• Loading dock
• Door dimensions: 10'x11'6''
• Dressing rooms: 9
• Maximum capacity: 54

Deck

• Permanent installations: traps in stage, orchestra shell, orchestra pit, hydraulic pit, electricity in pit, music stands, pianos (9' Steinway, 5' Steinway, Kawai Upright)

Pit

• Dimensions: 76'x6'
• Number of stands: 85
• Chairs for pit: 90

Electrics/Sound

• Building electrics amperage: 9 panels-3-600/3-200/2-100/1-100 = 2700 total
• Lighting board: computer memory
• Lighting equipment: 32-8x13, 22-10x12, 55-6x9, 30 8'' Fresnel's, 12 Par Cans, 12 Mini Strips

Trivia

• Gammage was the site of the third and final debate in the 2004 Presidential Election.
• The original movie The Nutty Professor starring Jerry Lewis had the "prom" (where Buddy Love was exposed) scene filmed in the newly constructed building in 1962.
• From the air, the auditorium and walkways look like a guitar