In the southern seaside city of Brighton & Hove, England, the design of a new Performing Arts Center for Brighton College mediates between the monumental and the contemporary. Designed by Amsterdam-based architecture studio krft in cooperation with London-based Nicholas Hare Architects, the mixed-use educational building houses a timber-lined 400-seat theater hall, music and performance spaces, a dance studio, digital media suite, and sixth form center.
Brighton College has worked to enhance its 19th century campus with a number of new buildings — the college understands the role of architecture in improving the learning environment. The new 3,200-square-meter (34,445-square-feet) Performing Arts Center — known as “The Richard Cairns Building” — occupies a compact site. It is situated between the main college building (designed in 1848 by English Gothic Revival architect Gilbert Scott) and the School of Sports and Sciences designed by OMA.
The building’s compact site presented something of a puzzle when planning its internal layout: “The complex spatial puzzle required some of the rooms to step out of the site footprint,” says krft. “This resulted in a dynamic, sculptural shape that is clad with the same material on all facades and roofs.”
“The building rises up as a white chalk cliff from the green campus space,” says krft (a reminder of its coastal location). The studio has raised the theater hall, opening up the ground floor for social spaces and connecting the Performing Arts Center with the surrounding site — this approach seeks to avoid any “backsides” irrespective of where the building is viewed on campus. Large windows on the northern elevation open onto the sports field; to help prevent overheating, there are no windows on the western and southern elevations.
The Performing Arts Center’s striking sculptural shape is monumental yet contemporary. Its curving components are constructed using prefabricated concrete sections. The facades are covered in light grey brick and darker flint, described by krft as “a dynamic play of local and historical materials.”
The double-height basement-level studios, raised theater hall, and social spaces are connected via a bright and spacious three-story atrium with wide stairways. In the center, an amphitheater offers a place in which to socialize and rehearse. Light from higher ground-level windows bathe the studios in natural light. The walnut-lined theater hall with its vivid jade-green upholstered seating is both smart and elegant — the inclusion of an oculus makes the space ideal for daytime practice.
