Hampstead Theatre
Swiss Cottage, London
Bennetts Associates Architects

Bennetts Associates gives a new face to a venerable theater company that carries on the magic of independent performance art

By Lucy Bullivant

© Peter Cook

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Do you need to be an expert in theatrical design to be the architect of a prestigious performance space? Rab Bennetts, partner with his wife Denise in the London architectural practice Bennetts Associates, thinks not. Commissioned by Hampstead Theatre to create a new home for its activities, the duo has designed a space with real presence and magic.

The architects created a master plan for the whole block as well as a new building, giving the theater a more public face on the street. A simple, rectangular pavilion in an urban park, it has two floors aboveground and one below. The client’s request for a generously proportioned foyer space was amply met with a lobby featuring a café/bar that sits on the main axial route from the entrance. This pivotal space connects the performance hall with informal meeting areas, and the street with the grassy slope and adjoining children’s playground (to be landscaped by Gustafson Porter) at the far end of the building. Ramped bridges lead to the auditorium, whose zinc-clad exterior rises dramatically from the basement foyer like the hull of a ship. Here, a reception area adjoins a studio beneath the bar. Above the bridges, a row of offices with street-facing windows culminate in the greenroom, a social hub for both employees and players on the building’s east side. This links with a corridor of dressing rooms set at a right angle.

An upbeat street facade of glazing, timber slating, and colored-light panels by artist Martin Richman responds to the client’s interest in balance—they didn’t want an icon on the street, nor did they want the building to be self-effacing. The timber screens covering the long facades echo the aesthetic of the screens within the auditorium.

The resolution of the auditorium is the theater’s foremost strength. Avoiding the typical 1960s black-box theater space, a flexible stage and a compact auditorium can adapt to each production. The visually dynamic elliptical layout, supported by a tilted balcony, maintains intimacy and connection between actors and audience. There are light metal technical grids for lighting instead of the visually impeding bridges found in some new auditoriums. The downside of choosing a curved shape for the auditorium is that it can result in rogue sound reflections and disorienting acoustic effects. The architects counteracted this problem by using slatted walnut screens and balcony fronts made of materials with a high degree of acoustic transparency, which visually define the elliptical shape of the room.

Behind these elements lie concealed fixed plasterboard walls and panels in convex and faceted patterns that scatter sound around the room. The most stringent theater critics are more than satisfied, and the auditorium has the flexibility regular playgoers expect. The hydraulic stage and the front bank of seats can be taken out and dropped into the basement with a stage lift, creating a thrust stage with seating on three sides.
The lobby fulfills the client’s requirement for a space as translucent as possible. "The idea was to get natural light right down to the bottom and express the volume all the way up from the basement," explains Rab Bennetts. Tough and tactile, with zinc bar tops and steel stairs, it confidently mediates between the steel-framed pavilion of the building and the sculptural form of the auditorium.

The architects applied to the design of this project their sound urban design ideas and pedigree in the creation of advanced working environments, rather than a track record in theater design. The result is an exemplary and welcoming cultural facility that is humane and rational, rather than iconic. In addition, the new theater takes the lead in the transformation of an important neighborhood. Phase two will entail the refurbishment of a library originally designed by Sir Basil Spence and the creation of housing and a new sports center by Sir Terry Farrell in a newly landscaped framework. Bennetts Associates’ design is a catalyst for creating something for everyone.

See the October 2003 issue of Architectural Record for full coverage of this project.

Formal name of Project:
Hampstead Theatre

Location:
Swiss Cottage, London

Gross square footage:
43,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$13.9 million

Owner:
Hampstead Theatre Foundation

Architect:
Bennetts Associates Architects
1 Rawstorne Place
London EC1V 7NL UK