Transforming an Old Building into an Open-Air Stage: The Front of House Disassembled Architecture in Illinois

Design studio Gluten has won the 2026 Ragdale Ring Competition at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois, with a project titled Front of House. Rather than building a traditional stage, the project distributes the space into a landscape for performance, gathering, movement, and everyday use, allowing the architecture to truly become part of the performance.

The design team took the facade of the Ragdale House as their starting point, scaling it down to fit the footprint of the Ragdale Ring circle before disassembling it into six flat panels punched with openings corresponding to the original building's windows, doors, and cornices. These components are scattered across the lawn instead of being reassembled into a building wall or traditional stage backdrop, creating a flexible space that supports multiple simultaneous activities.

The arrangement of these architectural elements is designed to support various uses, including:

• Audiences can immediately gather and sit on the surrounding elements.
• Performers can move freely back and forth among the different pieces.
• It accommodates a wide variety of events taking place simultaneously at the same time.
• The flat panel structures lie flush against the lawn, functioning as both a stage and an unfinished architectural structure.

This project was designed by Gluten Studio, which includes design team members Julia McConnell, Paige Davidson, Simon Hollrah, Megan Keith, Nicholas Needham, Genevieve Nichols, Emily Smith, Rifah Tasnia, and Heather Waters, with Nicholas James Needham serving as the project photographer. The project was built to withstand the summer and autumn seasons, and at the end of its lifespan, all components will be reused or disassembled to generate minimal waste.

Source: designboom