To provide an attractive and functional educational facility and public performance space whilst simultaneously dealing sensitively with ‘dead’ facade resulting from the ‘black box’ requirements of the principal spaces housed within the new Department of Film, Theatre and Television.
With limited opportunity for the introduction of fenestration into the design, the architects used Ibstock Linear brickwork as a key component in the provision of warmth and interest to the exterior facades of the modernist £11 million structure. The elongated form and variant blue hues of Linear Staffordshire Blue Brindle Smooth brick, batched from two different colour sources and laid in a typical stretcher bond with recessed joints, creates a dynamic, solid architectural core, which is complimented by the introduction of additional timber and render elements, and provides the flexibility and sustainability required by the specific needs of its users.
