[Shakespeare Globe Center]

Shakespeare Globe Centre (USA)

Globe Research Archive

[USA, Southeast Region]

Architectural information on the current reconstruction

[before]

One main purpose of this site will be to provide architectural information on the new Globe reconstruction in London. You will be able to see, through authentic period construction techniques, how the Globe went from what you see above (original Globe Theatre remains imposed on construction plans), to what you see below (the new Globe in action).

[after]

Those doing the reconstruction (timber-frame specialists McCurdy & Co., Ltd., architectural design firm Pentagram, and Shakespeare's Globe) have attempted to make the new Globe as authentic as modern scholarship can determine. To do this, they had to consider: Pictorial evidence from contemporary panoramas and engravings, Historical evidence from archaeological discoveries, the history of Globe reconstruction attempts, and the authenticity debates among Globe scholars. They then had to apply all this information to their construction plans, and include Elizabethan era architectural procedures and techniques such as: Timber-frame Construction, Liming the walls with a mixture of lime and goat hair, and Thatching the roof (making the Globe the first thatched roof structure in London since the Great Fire of 1666). After twenty-odd years of struggle, we can finally present Details of the Shakespeare's Globe Complex.

Either click on the text link above or use the buttons to the left to explore the Globe's Architecture

Return to the main page of your choice:

 

Questions? Email the Research Archive (globe@deans.umd.edu)
Updated on: 28 February 2002