A LIMBER STAGE FOR ASHLAND, OREGON

The renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival has a new award-winning performance space. The "New Theatre" was designed by Portland architect Thomas Hacker to support contemporary dramas, complementing the classic repertory produced in the nearby Elizabethan theaters. The new facility is said to be unique in that it is flexible enough to change the audience configuration from arena to three-quarter thrust — and back again — in the course of one day. Next week Brian Libby will explain the artistic choices this flexibility offers to actors and audiences.

LOOKING INSIDE GAUDI'S CASA BATLLO

The interior of Casa Batllo, a masterpiece of Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi, has been one of Barcelona's best-kept secrets. Closed to the public since its completion nearly a century ago, this creative tour de force was opened this year as part of a celebration of the 150th anniversary of Gaudi´s birth. The rooms are characterized by curved lines and molded forms. Spirals on the ceiling and hand-crafted tiles on the walls give the rooms the sensation of movement. Next week Rachel Grossman will take us on a tour of the remarkable house.

MODERNIST ICON IN DANGER

Marcel Breuer's Pirelli Building (1969) in New Haven, Connecticut has become an international modernist landmark but with dubious popularity among locals. The city is now making plans to welcome design retailer IKEA to the site, with plans to remove part of the base of the famously asymmetrical building. Although even its defenders do not hope to save the entire building, they are working hard to preserve enough of it to maintain the tower/base asymmetry. Next week we'll take a closer look at this preservation controversy.