Potemkin Theatre / Maich Swift Architects
This proposal for a small theatre draws on the changing use and cultural significance of the canalside location and presents a bold face to the Regent’s Canal. On one side the canal frontage has a flat, abstract image; the composition and arrangement of windows and stairways is a reimagination of Monsieur Hulot’s building in Jacques Tati’s Mon Oncle. On the other side open galleries overlook the rooftop and surrounds. Potemkin generally describes a false or deceptive appearance; we are interested in the way it suggests the revealing of the structure behind a lively and colourful frontage.