Exudes huge energy and a sense of surprise, delight and humour at every corner
London RIBA Regional Award 2019
Haworth Tompkins for Battersea Arts Centre
Contract value: £19.2m
GIA: 5,625m²
Cost per m²: £3,413
This is the culmination of a 12 year restoration project of the grade Il* listed building which was extended after a devastating fire. The brief and design process have taken inspiration from ‘scratch theatre’ pioneered at BAC, where ideas are tested out live and audience feedback used to evolve the performance. Areas such as the central courtyard, previously filled with lean-to structures, have been converted into an outdoor theatre. The stitching in of the new is expressed with white ceramic bricks in contrast to the existing red. In the Grand Hall, the burnt and scarred surfaces of exposed brick and plaster have been kept and contrasted with highly crafted insertions, including an open plywood lattice, referencing the memory of pattern from the old plaster mouldings in the barrel vault and with new technical infrastructure above. The building exudes huge energy and a sense of surprise, delight and humour at every corner.
Client of the Year