Compositionally, the new building is an asymmetric pavilion. Its elevations are open and transparent where they need to be, revealing the heart of the building to the public, yet elsewhere deliberately solid and cliff like, punctuated by carefully controlled window openings and toplight. The materials are freely but precisely arranged reinforcing the building masses which coalesce to form abstract asymmetrical sculptural compositions for each elevation.
The main Weston Theatre (340 seats) sits some 7 metres above the main foyer and the Clore Theatre (110 seats), which have been inserted beneath. The main theatre is the cultural and creative heart of the Unicorn and its special role has been expressed both in terms of its formality and its materiality.
The Weston is treated like a special casket and has been enwrapped in a random length strip rain screen system using pre-oxidised copper of standard widths 230, 430 and 600mm. The random strips create a laminar, striated, and massive quality to the main façade, which sits in deliberate contrast to the curved amphitheatre form of the auditorium which nestles at its heart, heightening the audience surprise on ascending to their seats.
The strip copper is carried into the interior of the building to celebrate the presence of the main theatre hovering overhead the foyer, and to ensure that it is legibly ever present.
The larger architectural gestures of projecting copper clad main auditorium and the iconic corner tower with its eroded base, signal the new building at an urban level, yet the designs are also rich in small scale detail. The stages, balconies, seating and in particular the form of the main auditorium itself derived from narrative story telling, all bring a delicate and appropriate scale to a unique new theatre for children and young people.
Download Link Architect's comments on The Unicorn Theatre.
