Jonathan Tuckey Design inserts a theatre at the Horris Hill School campus in Newbury, England, reserved for children between 4 and 13 years of age. David Brownlow Theatre enhances the complex by transforming an old car park into a cultural meeting place that becomes part of the educational programme. The theatre has been installed on the west side of the campus, where a 1970s cabin was located. The project includes three spaces used to gather students and communities and animate the new structure: a 160-seat auditorium, a meeting place around the portico at the entrance – a tall wooden structure also used as billboard to announce theatre productions – and an outdoor amphitheatre, extension of the stage towards the woods.
Sustainable cross-laminated timber (CLT) was chosen for the construction of the theatre and left visible inside, while panels of Viroc, a material made of wood and cement particles, with a red hue reminiscent of local Victorian buildings, were used for the cladding. Inside, a dark blue corrugated ceiling panel brings sound from the stage to the auditorium.