Circular timber performing arts centre by Studio Seilern opens at Wellington College
It's rare for school campuses to have their own performance centres and even rarer for these to be set within beautiful natural settings, such as the green Berkshire countryside; yet this new project by Studio Seilern Architects for Wellington College ticks both boxes. The £15m GW Annenberg Performing Arts Centre has just been launched at the English independent day and boarding school.
The architects' design was inspired by historical Greek amphitheatres; wood-clad and circular in form the building feels natural and inclusive. The circular 1,400-seat theatre also allows ‘young performers not to feel overwhelmed by a large auditorium', add the architects.
Careful consideration to acoustics, circulation and detailing – for example, the auditorium's balcony fronts have been designed as an evolving surface to reflect and scatter sound – ensures a high quality performance arena for the students. The building's foyer doubles as a ‘cultural living room', say the architects, which provides an area for dialogue and meetings around arts and events, as well as impromptu performances.
The impressive, dusky coloured façade is constructed from charred timber, using a Japanese method known as shou sugi ban – which is a natural treatment. Meanwhile, the vertical planks reflect the verticality of the trees from the surrounding woods.
Mixing state-of-the-art design and technology with a sensitive approach towards its forest setting, the new performance centre at Wellington College is set to be a valuable addition to student life, enhancing creativity and cultural exchange – but ‘will also bring together our local community and our many partnership schools', adds Julian Thomas, headmaster of Wellington.
INFORMATION
For more information visit the website of Studio Seilern Architects
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Tekαkαpimək Contact Station: a building ‘as inspiring as the endless forest and waterways of the land’
The new Tekαkαpimək Contact Station by Saunders Architecture with Reed Hilderbrand and Alisberg Parker Architects, opens at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in the USA
By Beth Broome Published
-
Bentley collaborates with fashion designer Supriya Lele to create ‘Nīla Blue’
This one-off Bentley Bentayga S showcases a new paint and interior specification created with Indian-British designer Supriya Lele
By Shawn Adams Published
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Yoruya, a Japanese inn where less is always more
Yoruya, which transforms a 110-year-old former kimono merchant shopfront and residence in Kurashiki, is an exercise in graceful restraint and craft
By Joanna Kawecki Published
-
Farshid Moussavi’s new house in Hove is about ‘what you need and nothing more’
A new house in Hove, designed by Farshid Moussavi for her parents, hits the right notes between functional and minimalist in the British seaside town
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Corten-clad extension creates a prominent Peckham landmark: tour Rusty House on the Rye
Studio on the Rye’s radical overhaul of a 1950s house in south London pairs robust materials with expansive new interior spaces
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The RIBA House of the Year 2024 winner is a delightful work in progress
The winner of the RIBA House of the Year 2024 is Six Columns in south London – the home of architect and 31/44 studio co-founder William Burges
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Dip into Wyld sauna: Liverpool's floating Finnish-style destination for lovers of extreme heat
Wyld sauna has opened in Liverpool, offering the perfect excuse to take a dive into the Nordic wellness tradition
By Emma O'Kelly Published
-
RIBA International Prize 2024 goes to 'radical housing' in Barcelona
RIBA International Prize 2024 has been announced, and the winner is Modulus Matrix: 85 Social Housing in Cornellà, designed by Peris + Toral Arquitectes in Barcelona
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Meet Scotland's best new building: The Burrell Collection wins Doolan 2024
The Doolan 2024 award crowns The Burrell Collection in Glasgow as Scotland's finest building this year, celebrating its comprehensive recent refurbishment
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
‘Concrete Dreams’: rethinking Newcastle’s brutalist past
A new project and exhibition at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle revisits the radical urban ideas that changed Tyneside in the 1960s and 1970s
By Smilian Cibic Published
-
Explore a barn conversion with a difference on the Isle of Wight
Gianni Botsford Architects' barn conversion transforms two old farm buildings into an atmospheric residence and artistic retreat, The Old Byre
By Jonathan Bell Published