Royal Academy of Dramatic Art London, RADA Building Bloomsbury, Architect, Photo

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art : RADA London

RADA Development in Bloomsbury, London, England, UK – design by Avery Associates Architects

18 Jun 2012

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Design: Avery Associates Architects

Location: Bloomsbury, London

RADA, arguably Britain’s most prestigious drama school, celebrated its centenary year with the completion of a new award-winning, state-of-the-art building. It contains workshops, rehearsal rooms and other support facilities, plus three new theatres and a foyer/bar where, for the first time at RADA, the public can meet the future stars of stage and screen.

pictures courtesy of Avery Associates Architects

The public foyers have been used to create a link at ground level between the public entrance in Malet Street and the private academy entrance in Gower Street. Each has quite a different character and is separated by a vertical shaft of space known as the ‘cleft’. This brings a glimpse of daylight deep into the building and even into the basements via a glass floor in the foyer.

Undoubtedly the greatest challenge of the project was to compress the full range of facilities that a modern drama school like RADA requires into such a very constrained urban site. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the design of the principle auditorium, the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre.

There, just over 200 seats have been fitted into an auditorium on three levels, in a width of only 10.5m. Glass walls with black out, hydraulic floors and multiply-hinged flaps combine to make the auditorium a truly multi-purpose space.

pictures courtesy of Avery Associates Architects

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art – Building Information

Title: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Dates: 1994-2000
Client: RADA
Cost: £17m (Arts Council of England Lottery Funded)
Status: Completed

Awards
RIBA Award 2001
The ADAPT Trust Access Award 2001
Camden Building Quality Awards 2003 – Excellence in Inclusive Design
Camden Design Award 2001
United States Institute of Theatre Technicians Award 2003
British Institute of Architectural Technologists Award 2002
FX International interior design awards 2002
Civic Trust Award 2002
Camden Design Award 2001

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art images / information from Avery Associates Architects

Avery Associates

Location: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, UK