Case Study

Home, Manchester

Image Credit: Mecanoo

'A project like this isn't necessarily about architecture in the first place,' says Francesco Veenstra, architect with Mecanoo, designer of Manchester's new £19m contemporary arts centre, Home. 'It's about creating a sense of place, placemaking.' That said, Mancunians now have a hell of a hard-working and sleek new cultural venue.

Squeezed into a tight, triangular plot on a rapidly regenerating city centre zone, Home offers two theatres (a 490-seater main theatre and a 155-seat studio space), five cinemas, art gallery, and three food and drink venues.

An amalgamation of two beloved Manchester arts institutions - the Cornerhouse cinema and the city's Library Theatre Company - the project has been achieved thanks to the support of Manchester Council, its regional boroughs, the Arts Council, and Ask, the developer of this new urban neighbourhood.

Squeezing so much into the site has proved a bonus in the end, not just through ensuring a strong symbolic connection with the original, curving Cornerhouse building. It also means necessarily square elements were packed into the centre of the building, leaving the corners free to provide more interestingly shaped social areas, foyers and Home's office.

An exterior that is 50 per cent glazed means that interior activity is broadcast at all times of day. Glazing is strategically placed to overlook interesting vistas, rather than the car park and student accommodation, which nestle up to the building. The remainder is clad in electrolysed stainless-steel panels, which change from dark blue to black depending on the light. Says Veenstra: 'Everything about this building is about the performance that takes place inside.

The dark skin of the building tries to communicate the cultural nature of its activities, in contrast to the surrounding commercial buildings where the architectural expression really tries to scream.'

The interiors are simple, with white-painted concrete walls and machined-oak flooring. A metal-framed staircase punches through each floor, clad in timber that also references the original Cornerhouse staircase. The real feat of engineering, however, is the degree of acoustic isolation in a building that is only 6m away from a mainline railway station.

Thick concrete walls and floors sandwiched around rubber matting seals the building from train vibration and rattle, and means that no sound from the cinemas above spoil the theatre performances below.

Client: Manchester Council with Ask
Architects: Mecanoo with Ian Simpson Architects
Area: 6,000 sq m
Cost: £19m
Completed: May 2015