FX Awards 2018 Winners

Public Sector

Winner: Royal Academy of Music – Theatre and new Recital Hall by Ian Ritchie Architects

Public Sector  Winner: Royal Academy of Music – Theatre and new Recital Hall by Ian Ritchie ArchitectsImage Credit: Adam Scott

Hidden behind the listed facade of the Royal Academy of Music’s Edwardian premises, surrounded by Grade I and Grade II listed buildings and located in the Regent’s Park conservation area, two distinct, outstanding performance spaces have been seamlessly integrated within the historic site.

The Theatre, designed for both opera and musical theatre productions, now forms the heart of the Academy. The Recital Hall created above it, exploiting the last major area into which the Academy could expand, provides state-of-the-art recording facilities, completing a suite of facilities for the Academy’s ambitious student body and worldclass teaching staff and for public performances.

Ian Ritchie Architects was tasked with designing a theatre for students and the public’s enjoyment of performances, while delivering the ambience, aesthetics and the environmental credentials befitting the Academy’s status as one of the world’s premiere musical academies.

Beyond the brief, Ian Ritchie Architects explored the potential of creating new rooftop spaces over the theatre. An epiphany during a discussion between the principal and Ian Ritchie led to the development of a new 100-seat Recital Hall and an additional recording facility.

In designing the new spaces, the practice took inspiration from string instruments: their curved shapes, their construction and tuning mechanisms, tension and tone, and the physical relationships between artist and instrument.

The judges said...
‘Beautiful and breathtaking halls… what more is there to say?’

Finalists & Judges’ Comments

Roseland University Prep by Aidlin Darling Design
‘Simple and elegant brought to life by beautiful materiality’

Niagara College Student Commons, Niagara-on-the-Lake by Gow Hastings Architects
‘Almost like an art installation’

Hackney Town Hall by Hawkins\Brown
‘Beautiful and sensitive restoration project’

Civitas Academy by HCC Property Services
‘Simple solution pulled together with a strong architectural language’

NewYork-Presbyterian David H. Koch Center by HOK
‘A sophisticated and humane clinical facility’

Men’s Fashon Department by Rock Townsend Architects
‘Simple and cheap intervention with high impact’

University of London by Spacelab
‘A transformation of former storage space to create great acadaemic workspace’

George Washington Bridge Bus Station Redevelopment Program by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
‘A civilised and intellegent renewal of this powerful Nervi design’

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