Repairing Performing Arts

My project was to design an art and performing company for an existing client. When we visited Coventry, we visited the EGO performing arts company which has been running for 10 years now.

The company first bought the building which was originally a warehouse in 2010. They renovated the warehouse but with a lack of funding their dream building couldn’t be made. This has slowly led to a dysfunctional building whose efforts to help those with disabilities create art cant be met.

When we visited, it quickly came across to us how passionate the company were and how they loved the people there. This made me want to design them a new space which would operate for their needs and help with the people who needed things such as disabled access. For this project I wanted to keep as much of the building’s heritage as possible, so I tried to reuse the existing brick exterior, colours panels and structure. Due to being a 1970s building there was a strong existing concrete structure which helped in the sustainability side of the project. By reusing concrete, there is a strong conservation in reducing the release of CO2. I changed the architecture of the building by adding an extension onto the front and the back of the building. This opened the buildings circulation and made the building program more functional.

There have been improvements to the existing café and additions to the accommodation such as a bar and flexible theatre space. The additions of the extension will be timber and I aimed to juxtapose the original solid masonry and concrete with a lightweight open timber structure with glass and bi-fold doors.