GW Annenberg Performing Arts Centre

G.W. ANNENBERG PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE

STUDIO SEILERN ARCHITECTS

Architect: Studio Seilern Architects Client: Wellington College Theatre consultants: Charcoalblue Acoustics: BickerdlikeAllen Landscape: Todd Longstaffe-Gowan Structural Engineering: Peter Brett Assoc.

Building Services: Michael Popper Assoc.

Quantity Surveyor: Thornton-Firkin Fire Consultant: Buro Happold Area: 2,580 m² Budget: £15m Completion Date: September 2018

G.W. ANNENBERG PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE in WELLINGTON COLLEGE

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Many institutes of learning now seek to educate through self-discovery, enabling students to consider what makes them who they are, so they may begin to take responsibility for their own development.

The main auditorium’s circular shape is inspired by historic Greek amphitheatres, creating a building with no edges and angles: a form perpetually recessing into its landscape setting.

The design for Wellington College’s new Cultural Quarter consists of a new 1,400 capacity Performing Arts Centre and a ‘cultural living room’, a space where students are inspired, and their education can flourish, both through formal and spontaneous performances.

The site is on the edge of Bracknell forest, and adjacent to some important listed building. The circular shape also helped to integrate the building within this context, acting as a hinge connecting the modern and historic campuses.

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Concept diagrams

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Attached to the auditorium SSA placed the new Cultural Living Room, a ‘public square’ between the campus and the forest which connects the Performance Arts Centre with the existing theatre. This space is not limited by its four walls, rather it is a public space that is vibrant, open, filled with natural light and inhabited by students and guest artists.

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Ground Floor Plan

Section

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17.5° 9.0°

20.0°

Designed with high-quality acoustics and efficient circulation in mind, this Performance Arts Centre is the venue for students to showcase their creative talents in a formal setting. The circular shape created a collegiate atmosphere, where everyone sees each other and allowed a closer proximity to the performance than a shoebox auditorium typically would.

The auditorium balcony fronts have been designed as an evolving surface that reflects and scatters the sound to maximise the theatrical experience.

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Putting the circulation at the perimeter allows the building to sit softly and comfortably within the landscape, giving the perception that it gently hovers above the ground.

Beyond the project brief, the auditorium of the Performance Arts Centre was to overcome the obstacle of the ‘sunken effect’ of the existing theatre, caused by level differences in the terrain. This was tackled by providing a longer stepped ramp that softly winds around the circumference of the amphitheatre, not only creating an interactive approach but also a vibrant front to the campus.

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Cladding construction

The main auditorium is clad in stained timber, sitting softly alongside the dark bark vernacular textures of the forest. By situating the Cultural Quarter of the college between a dense forest and beautiful historic Victorian buildings, approaching students are met with a building emerging from the surrounding woods.

Despite its capacity, the scale of the building and its careful setting into the landscape does not overwhelm students and visitors.

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Cladding diagram

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PRACTICE HONOURS & AWARDS WAF - Leisure Led Development 2018 Shortlisted RESTAURANT GÜTSCH

RIBA International Award 2013 Winner GOTA DAM RESIDENCE

AJ Architecture Awards 2017 - Workplace of the Year Shortlisted ANSDELL STREET

LEAF Awards 2013 Finalist GOTA DAM RESIDENCE

AJ Retrofit Awards 2017 Shortlisted ANSDELL STREET

WAN House of the Year 2012 Winner GOTA DAM RESIDENCE

New London Architecture Awards 2017 Commended ANSDELL STREET

LEAF - Interiors Awards 2013 Winner LAUENEN RESIDENCE

RIBA London Regional Award 2017 Shortlisted ANSDELL STREET

WAN Interiors 2013 Finalist LAUENEN RESIDENCE

WAF - Future Educational Project 2016 Shortlisted KSI RABAT

New London Architecture Awards 2012 Finalist WHITE HORSE STREET

WAF - Future Educational Project 2015 Winner W.G. ANNENBERG PERFORMANCE ARTS CENTRE

WAN Residential 2012 Highly Commended JABI LAKE

Blueprint Awards - Best Non-Public Project 2014 Winner GOTA DAM RESIDENCE

WAN Interiors 2012 Finalist KENSINGTON RESIDENCE

Architect of the Year Awards (AYA) - International Breakthrough Architect of the Year - 2013 Finalist

New London Architecture – Don’t Move, Improve 2013 Finalist OXFORD GARDENS

Architect of the Year Awards (AYA) - One-off House Architect of the Year 2013 Finalist

World Architecture News Education Award 2012 Finalist KSI GENEVA

Future Reception Competition, Architects Journal/ Derwent London 2013 Winner

24 Scrubs Lane London NW10 6RA T +44 (0)20 8969 2567 press@studioseilern.com www.studioseilern.com Photography: Nick Hufton, Hufton+Crow Omer Kanipak, Kanipak Photography Copyright Š 2018 Studio Seilern Architects All rights reserved.

December 2018 Edition