Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios has completed the restoration of Brighton’s Grade I listed Corn Exchange and Grade II listed Studio Theatre, part of the city’s historic Brighton Dome arts venue. A new infill building in a former courtyard provides a foyer and gallery as well as public and support facilities. Conservation work on the two heritage buildings has peeled back many layers, restoring once hidden spaces, adding flexibility in terms of layout and accessibility, and updating the venues for a 21st century audience.
Built in the early 19th century, the Corn Exchange was designed by English architect William Porden and has had a number of lives. Originally a riding house for British royalty (the Brighton Dome was used as riding stables), the Corn Exchange became a corn market in 1868. It has served as a Victorian skating rink, acted as a temporary hospital in WWI for wounded Indian soldiers, was a place of protest for Suffragettes, and the Brighton Dome is where ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974.
Porden’s pioneering design for the Corn Exchange incorporates an impressive column-free timber structure — at the time, the construction was initially delayed owing to difficulties in finding large single spans of roof timber. Peter Clegg, Founding Partner of FCBStudios, says: “What appealed to us most when we started the project was the Corn Exchange . . . and as far as we know [it] is still the widest single span timber framed building in the country. Seeing the space now - fully restored, with all the layers that had been added over the years stripped out - you can see what an extraordinary building it is.” Measuring 54 m x 18 m x 10 m, the Corn Exchange can seat 505 people or 1,291 standing.
FCBStudios worked with both theater experts and skilled craftspeople to remove ceilings in the Corn Exchange, revealing the original timber roof structure and how it was assembled. The 18-meter-wide timber frame was repaired and strengthened, making it structurally sound. Windows on the building’s western side have been opened up, their decorative timber linings uncovered and skillfully restored. Timber linings on the walls and dormer roof arches were repaired using 6,500 linear meters of sustainable European oak cladding (a unit of length, a linear meter measures a straight distance in a single dimension). Each of these interventions has greatly contributed to conserving the character of the 1806 interior.
The timber roof frame in the Corn Exchange houses production equipment, such as lighting and audio rigs. New additions to the venue include sub-floor storage, a north-end balcony with a concealed 232-seat retractable bleacher unit, and a ventilation system that uses heat-exchange technology to optimize energy reuse. Building services engineers Max Fordham explains: “The design incorporates a mixture of new and retrofitted systems. The plant's energy efficiency was at the forefront of the design process, working with an existing fabric, including the grade-listed Corn Exchange. Heat recovery and mixing boxes were installed in the air handling units to reduce the heating or cooling required, depending on the time of year.”
With windows on the western side opened up, daylight filters into the Corn Exchange via the new double-height public foyer and gallery. These windows also allow views into the venue space from the foyer of the Studio Theatre. The windows provide an acoustic barrier between the performance space and bar, aided by an additional acoustic layer on the foyer side. “The central [foyer] space gives rare opportunities for views between the venues,” says FCBStudios. The off-white brickwork adds a pleasing industrial aesthetic in the new gallery bar. The gallery’s glazed roof brings natural light into the public spaces and through interconnections between venues. The new infill building also completes a public route between the adjacent Church Street and New Road.
Built in 1935 as part of Brighton Dome’s Art Deco transformation, the Grade II listed Studio Theatre was once a supper room and now hosts up to 225 audience members for smaller performances or rehearsals. FCBStudios renovated and reconfigured the theatre, improving capacity and adding side balconies. “A new lift and escape stair enable the theatre to have its own accessible foyer space with views through the windows of the Corn Exchange,” says the studio.
Work on the Corn Exchange, Studio Theatre, foyer and gallery, and a dedicated creative space called Anita’s Room (with capacity for 40 people), began in September 2016 and was completed in October 2023.
Gross internal floor area: 3,500 square meters (37,674 square feet)