The Regent's Park Open Air Theatre is a much-loved London institution, playing to audiences of 1200 every evening throughout the Summer. Renovation of open air theatre Regents Park, London |
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Last renovated in 1976 by Howell, Killick Partridge and Amis, by 1998 the technical and front of house spaces had become obsolete and unsatisfactory. Audiences have traditionally arrived by strolling across the park, but once inside the theatre enclosure the woodland atmosphere was compromised by obtrusive car parking, refuse stores and decrepit buildings. Haworth Tompkins worked with landscape architects Camlin Lonsdale to reorganise the public and private areas, improve circulation patterns and replace many of the old structures. Our strategy was to reinforce the natural desire lines of approach and departure with sweeping curves and carefully controlled views. |  |
A language of screens, trellises and hedges was developed to suppress the architectural presence of the various buildings on the site and heighten the effect of the landscape setting, so that audiences seem to arrive in a wooded clearing before taking their seats. Hazel hurdles underpin extensive new planting to establish the spatial enclosures as the landscape matures. |  |
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The back of the fan shaped auditorium was extended at high level to form a sheltered open foyer beneath and provide better technical facilities above. A continuous trellis screen of painted steel mesh and woven hazel wraps the front of the foyer and will eventually be covered in flowering climbers. Red canvas roof panels and retractable windbreaks add richness and warmth. Artist David Ward has designed an installation for the screen, weaving hundreds of tiny light sources over the mesh like a growing plant. |  |
The complex technical and landscape work was carried out in six months between the end of one season and the start of the next so that no performances were missed. |  |
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REGENTS PARK THEATRE Client: The New Shakespeare Company Value: £2,000,000 Completed: May 2000 |
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| 19-20 Great Sutton Street London EC1V 0DR T (44) 020 7250 3225 F (44) 020 7250 3226 |
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