Happy to share completed images of BEAM Hertford - New theatre, cinemas, rehearsal and social spaces in the centre of Hertford.

Hertford Theatre was a piece of local authority civic infrastructure built in the 1970s (1977 to be precise), taking its place between the site of a medieval castle and a bend in the River Lea to create a cultural focal point for the town.

Prior to the redevelopment it looked tired and municipal, anonymous and generic.

Bennetts Associates developed a design strategy to retain and refurbish the volume of the original main auditorium with a series of new volumes containing cinemas, dance studio, activity room and foyer spaces…all built around a notional central courtyard-type space. Citizens Design Bureau won an invited competition to design the interiors for the building.

As a multi-purpose venue - with simultaneous theatre and cinema programming, foyers needed to be generous. For the interiors, we wanted to amplify the idea of a series of discrete, but interconnected ’rooms’ around a central atrium - such that it never feels cavernous. This kind of cultural space needs to feel just as welcoming on a quiet Wednesday afternoon as it does on a buzzing Friday night with audiences at capacity.

Using layers of colour to delineate transitions between spaces, visually this creates a sense of intimacy and distinctive character to each part of the building.

The choice of colour and layout within each space was also very much playing off architectural decisions around placement of windows to highlight visual connections to the river. The vivid green of existing trees and riverbank forms a backdrop to each of the public areas - offering connections back to the town.

The intimacy of each room is enhanced by a design approach that explicitly considers multi-sensory experience. Acoustically, concrete floors and exposed brickwork within the internal ‘courtyard’ atrium, introduce a transitional, more reverberant space between outside and inside, serving as an orientation point for the building...Sitting areas by contrast are designed with distinctively absorbent concertina-formed felt soffits - calibrating a delicate balance between convivial ‘buzz’ and distracting, overwhelming noise.

This contrast is also made through the conception of the thermal experience- moving from the double height atrium into lower ceilinged, spaces with warmer, softer surfaces that bring a sense of coziness.

We’ve had fun really playing with these transitions from outside to inside… the low, entrance space funneling audiences into a suddenly expansive atrium and then again into intimate foyers… even on a micro scale in the toilets - the surprise of vivid golden yellow when opening a cubicle door.

Within the auditorium, the shell of the space is retained, but in every other way it is remodeled. A new roof was required after the installation of new technical lighting bridges necessitated significant additional steel structure and serving containment and ductwork. We have created a lining of faceted timber which dances within and around these new structural elements and servicing routes to give a space with singular personality including new balconies (best seats in the house!)… with explicit and playful nods to its 70s retro origins in the air supply ducts, material and colour choices.

In a building for a local authority, inevitably budget has been a constraint… but often simple and low cost materials have been deployed in imaginative or unusual ways through staining/faceting/folding etc to create spaces that (hopefully!) feel rich, warm, welcoming and inspiring.

Architects - Bennetts Associates

Interior Design - Citizens Design Bureau

Main Contractor - GPF Lewis

Structural Engineers - Integral Engineering Design

Services Engineer - Max Fordham

Lighting design - Pritchard Themis

Theatre and Acoustics Consultants - Sound Space Vision (to Stage 3)

Theatre and Acoustics Consultants - Charcoalblue (Stage 4 onwards)

Inclusive Design - David Bonnett Associates

Fire Engineering Consultants - The Fire Surgery

Landscape Architecture - Fabrik

Cost Consultant and Employer’s Agent - Bristow Consulting

Photos by Hufton and Crow and Citizens Design Bureau plus original design collages and models by Citizens Design Bureau

A new net zero carbon visitor centre for the National Trust Shugborough Estate in Staffordshire. Our proposals wrap a new building around an ancient oak tree with textured walls that reference Shugborough’s history as a site of unusual innovations - such as using greenhouses to grow tropical fruit. The first pineapple grown in the UK was grown there.

The building will be built using material from Straw bale, UK felled timber, lime and clay with low carbon concrete slab.

Citizens Design Bureau’s £6m Manchester Jewish Museum project involves renovation of a Grade II* Listed former synagogue and a new museum clad in corten steel. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, it includes an exhibition gallery, learning space, archive, café and former synagogue space which will also hold events, concerts and performances. The museum holds over 31,000 items in its collection, documenting universal stories of migration journeys, communities and identities from Jewish people in Manchester.

The new facade is an exploration of 8 point geometry, inspired by the history of the community that built the synagogue: Sephardi Jews from Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East in 1874. Their geographic origins inspired the architect Edward Salomons, who incorporated Islamic geometric architectural motifs from that region into the synagogue building. This project was therefore an important opportunity for conversations across religious and cultural difference. Now more than ever, it serves as an architectural expression of the idea that “we have more in common than that which divides us.”

We wanted to create a building that would spark conversations, unexpected connections and surprising insights. We set out to explore how the religious, political and cultural diversity of Manchester’s Jewish communities could resonate across society, to discover and celebrate what makes people unique as well as the threads of common experience that connect us in surprising and beautiful ways. Our design approach has been a labour of love, including an immersive design process that has genuinely brought communities together. Those threads weave through every aspect of the new building.

The building itself is situated on an out-of-town trunk road, surrounded by industrial buildings, it makes an unlikely location for a museum. The new extension sits adjacent to the Grade II* Listed historic former synagogue building, set in a cluttered industrial streetscape. It balances this context with an industrial corten steel volume, tempered with delicate detailing. The challenge was to create a viable building, to be more than a museum - becoming embedded within local communities as a piece of civic infrastructure on an otherwise unglamorous commuter route. The façade lights up at twilight, in the same way that all Jewish festivals begin at sunset with the lighting of candles, which has created a landmark within the city. It also became clear that food is a unifying force, so the idea of a museum cafe with typical plastic wrapped sandwiches disappeared and it became the Jewish kitchen bagel bakery. The design process, included baking workshops (‘a brief history through cake’), concerts (‘synagigs’), workshops and events. This redefined the museum as: ‘the living room of Cheetham Hill’, with flexible spaces to host events, community meals and functions, making links with local refugee organisations, faith groups and schools. The engagement ‘scratch’ process, significantly shifted the brief to create a holistic museum experience such that every part of the building is densely woven with meaning and learning opportunities . The diversity of people involved in the design process has been huge involving events and workshops for Christian, Sikh and Muslim groups and individuals, refugee groups, the police, schools, LGBTQ communities, children, elderly and with a design team run by women.

The former synagogue has now been extensively repaired and the original 19th century decorative scheme has been recreated following forensic paint analysis through over a century of accumulated layers of brown gloss and magnolia paint.

Externally, the synagogue’s explicitly religious appearance suggested a faith-focussed museum that didn’t reflect the variety of the collection. The extension therefore creates a new entrance to welcome a greater diversity of visitors. The design avoids dominating the Listed building and instead serves to amplify its presence in a cluttered streetscape. The perforated, back lit facade glows with dappled intensity during morning and afternoon rush hours.

The new museum explores universal experiences of migration journeys, what makes a community and questions of identity from the perspective of Manchester’s Jewish communities. It also uses the Grade II* Listed synagogue building as a living artefact to explore Jewish religious practices in an engaging way for visitors of all ages, faiths and backgrounds. The museum collection was previously displayed in cabinets on the upstairs gallery of the synagogue and hadn’t changed since the museum had opened in the 1980s, with only a fraction of the collection displayed. A major new extension has been built alongside the synagogue, doubling the size of the museum, to house a brand-new gallery, café, shop and collection store. A generous atrium links new visitor facilities to the old building and includes lift access to the first floor to the new exhibition gallery.

‘This project has been an exemplar of how to run a development phase process, genuinely responding to community consultation in meaningful and imaginative ways. It is clear that the design team and client have developed ideas very much together and the diversity of activity is wonderful.’ David Renwick National Lottery Heritage fund grant officer, Manchester

Sustainability

The synagogue was thermally leaky and expensive to run. A high-performance insulation quilt has been introduced into the roof of the synagogue and a thermally massive double floor slab incorporating a fresh air plenum within the new extension pre-heats air to naturally ventilate the Listed Building. The old Victorian sunburners in the ceiling have been repurposed as natural ventilation extracts. The main atrium and community spaces have automatically controlled natural ventilation. In spite of adding a new extension, doubling the footprint of the building, the project has been designed such that the overall carbon intensity of the building will reduce by around 20% compared to the original stand-alone synagogue. This has been confirmed in post-occupancy analysis.

(photos by Philip Vile and Joel Chester Fildes)

Credits:

BuroHappold Engineering

Appleyard and Trew

BuroFour

Smithers Purslow

All Things Studio

Plann theatre tech

HHSmith

Winner at the Civic Trust Awards 2023

Our refurbishment of Jacksons Lane theatre within a Grade II Listed former Church completely transformed the previous layout, bringing the historic ‘bones’ of the building back to prominence. The building now includes more generous and accessible public spaces in rich, atmospheric colours, enhanced acoustic isolation and dramatic new studio spaces for rehearsal, community events and circus arts in particular. Detailed briefing workshops took place, exploring the functional and operational constraints of the existing layout and exploring the way in which the building will be used in a post-covid world. The greater number and diversity of spaces for affordable hire cross subsidises many of the community events and activities that make Jacksons Lane so well loved to so many people of all ages and backgrounds.

“Since the re-opening of Jacksons Lane we have seen increased footfall, hire of space and a return of theatre and circus audiences, and the public, artists and users of our building are loving the new design, facilities and accessibility. Disability-led companies such as Extraordinary Bodies are utilising the newly accessible Studio 1 and our café/bar offer has seen more daytime use of the building by local residents”

Adrian Berry : Artistic Director

(photos by Fred Howarth)

Credits:

Skelly and Couch M&E engineers

Momentum structural engineers

Gillieron Scott Acoustics

Francesca Weal Conservation

Bristow cost consultants

Jayne Earnscliffe Access

Cragg Management

GPF Lewis contractor

Shortlisted for the Civic Trust Awards and AJAwards 2023

The Talent House is a new £4.1 million state-of-the-art creative hub located in Stratford as the home of East London Dance and leading national youth music organisation, UDmusic. It was opened by Sadiq Khan in July 2022.

The new hub will equip young, diverse talent in East London to become the next generation of music and dance professionals by providing free and affordable access to world class facilities.

Designed by Citizens Design Bureau Architects, the building is part of the Sugarhouse Island Masterplan led by Vastint with Waugh Thistleton Architects designing the external shell and stair cores.

The building comprises dance studios, music recording suites, flexible teaching and events spaces, a co-working space for artists and members, as well as a central atrium functioning as a multi-use space for dance jams and informal gigs. A pared down but warm palette of materials with a strong sustainability ethos (all furniture is made of cardboard), reflects the quality, aspiration and ambition of the work produced and the future facing values of both organisations.

“The design, quality of finishes, quality of acoustics and air, are all really successful individually and collectively. It feels exactly what we would want as a space for our communities - warm, welcoming, spacious, accessible. I don’t underestimate how difficult this was to achieve. Thank you on behalf of all of us, and the thousands of participants to follow.”

Jen Mclachlan - East London Dance Project Manager

(photos by Taran Wilkhu, Chris O’Donovan, Philip Vile)

Credits:

Skelly and Couch M&E engineers

Simple Works engineers

Gillieron Scott Acoustics

Pulse consulting

ITC contractor

Highly Commended at the AJ retrofit awards 2022

Set within Epping Forest, the Grade II Listed St Peter’s Church is unusually beautiful. It was bombed during WWII giving rise to an asymmetrical interior. To fulfil the brief to renovate the building and create new community spaces, our approach was to divide the church along the line of what was an original square chapel on the site - thus creating a more intimate worship space, with new community spaces created on the other side of the inserted timber ‘rood screen’. This screen creates an acoustic division that incorporates the new organ ‘pipes’ as well as access to the bell tower. With a challenging budget, we revisited the original brief which called for an extension, to demonstrate how we could create a more atmospheric, flexible, energy efficient space by actually making the building smaller!

“Whilst [churches are] historically important buildings, what makes places of worship like St Peter-in-the-Forest so precious is their place in the heart of local communities. Surrounded by stunning forest, National Lottery funding will not only save this at-risk church but it will encourage more people to use and enjoy it! This ambitious and innovative project at St Peter’s is pioneering a new future for places of worship.”

Ros Kerslake, National Lottery Heritage Fund

(photos by Etienne Clement and James Houston)

Credits:

Momentum structural engineers

OR Consulting engineers M&E

Smithers Purslow

The Cultural Engine Project Management

Rooff contractor

A new Passivhaus terrace typology for Hackney Council to replicated on infill sites across Hackney

Studio 3 Arts is a vibrant community arts organisation with an ambitious creative programme. In an area undergoing massive urban change in Barking, this project is about more than a building - with a distinctive attitude to instilling local pride, ambition and imagination. Studio 3 operated out of a former community centre, with a lack of street presence, dingy, uninsulated spaces, worn and unreliable services that didn’t reflect the scale and quality of the work produced. Citizens Design Bureau won an invited competition to be Architects, Project Managers, Principal Designers and Lead Consultants for the project. The GLA and Arts Council funded proposals will completely remodel the existing building to include a more visible and welcoming bar and foyer, acoustically enhanced auditorium, recording studio, fully accessible toilets as well as back of house changing rooms and offices. In addition, a straw bale extension will create a new multi-purpose studio and community art gallery, that can be rented out for community events at affordable rates as well as increasing Studio 3’s own creative programme. Currently under construction, being built by Kickstarter trainees and volunteers alongside main contractor GPFLewis.

Credits:

CCBE M&E engineers

Momentum structural engineers

Bristow Cost consultants

GPF Lewis contractor

Winner World Interiors Award - Best Bar 2015

Our remodeling of the Royal Court bar and kitchen on Sloane Square in London avoided a stark contrast of new-old respecting the ever-evolving layers of the building’s history. Instead we have added our own layer, stripping back where necessary, but also adding with delicate insertions, added textures and colours to create spaces that are resolutely new but laden with the Royal Court’s recognisable personality. Slate from the original bar has been re-purposed to form benches, The rich, red original Jarrah wood panelling has been reclaimed within the bespoke joinery of snug seating, whilst a custom made steelwork filigree screen references delicate metalwork elsewhere in the building.

‘Its often hard to make an interior intervention conspicuous when you already have an imposing architectural presence. Citizens Design Bureau do this very successfully. They don’t see the heritage of the space necessarily as a constraint, but instead work imaginatively with it to leverage the historic details, creating a more identifying contemporary space. They have a real understanding of proportion and materiality throughout their work’.

Dr Harriet Harriss, Judge: Emerging Practice of the Year, World Interiors Awards ‘15

Photos by Eleonore de Bonnevale

Credits : Collaborating architects: Lyndon Goode with Citizens Design Bureau

A housing proposal set around a courtyard for young vulnerable adults leaving care on infill sites in Brighton

We were asked to create an installation for the 150th anniversary of the Cafe Royal on Regents Street during London fashion week and celebrating the lives of its most famous patrons including ‘Ziggy Stardust’, Mohammed Ali, Princess Diana, Arthur Conan Doyle, Louis Armstrong… Handmade hanging chains of lettering spelling out the Cafe Royal as well as names of patrons are interspersed with brightly coloured macaroons - giving pops of colour through the delicate gauze of chains that still allows views into the cafe.

Illustrations of our proposals for Little Angel Theatre by Marco Strizzolo

Citizens Design Bureau designed furniture, signage, finishes for the Stirling Prize winning Everyman , winning a World Interiors Award 'best leisure and entertainment venue'. CDB Director Katy Marks was previously project Architect for the Stirling Prize winning Everyman Theatre whilst at Haworth Tompkins Architects.

“The Everyman is a building with a quirky sense of humour. Clever use of materials with interlocking spaces and brilliant lighting all create an ambience that is hugely welcoming. It is also exceptionally sustainable; re-using 90% of the material from the old theatre.”

Spencer de Grey, Chair of the judges 2014 Stirling prize

Photograph: Philip Vile

Credits:

Haworth Tompkins Architects

Citizens Design Bureau & Haworth Tompkins interiors

Watermans Building Services

Alan Baxter structural engineers

Gillieron Scott Acoustics

Charcoalblue theatre tech

G&T cost consultants

The project explores alternative models of civic infrastructure within a new housing community. We were originally invited by the LLDC to develop business modeling and concept designs for a new form of library on the Olympic Park that wouldn’t require public subsidy. Proposals developed to include a Community Land Trust housing development, cross funded and supported by workspace, retail and other community facilities. In particular, we developed a home ownership model that allows for affordability in perpetuity (unlike shared ownership, benefitting only the first buyer)

(photo by Christian de Souza)

Credits:

Impact Hub co-founders : Katy Marks, Jonathan Robinson, Eithne Flanagan, Mark Hodge

Carpentry : Stephen Jones, Oliver Marlow, Katy Marks, Mark Hodge + volunteers

Proposals for a low rise terrace in Hackney

From 2013-2016 we were resident Architects for Eat Work Art who established the vibrant workspace community at Hackney Downs Studios. On a shoestring budget we worked with their in house build team to convert an old printworks factory into studios, offices, shops, a theatre, cafe and weekend market.

Community led housing as part of the Custom House regeneration in Newham

(Currently on site) The Ambassadors theatre is currently painted entirely in magnolia, has a ceiling held up with gaffer tape - (yes!), the main stalls bar located in a broom cupboard, awkward sightlines and a creaking ventilation system. With the stage and stalls at basement level and circle entrance at its own half level, only 15sqm of the building is actually at street level, making access challenging for everyone, but impossible for audiences with mobility issues. Our designs are currently under construction, will introduce a lift, accessible toilet and enlarged bar, newly created stalls boxes and control room and new, more comfortable seats with better sightlines throughout. We have forensically researched the original decorative scheme, but made the case to darken the space slightly, taking our cues from the original blue dome. The unusual original interior scheme was very light and restrained for a West End theatre, so we are retaining that elegance, with subtly introduced lighting bars and ventilation almost invisibly introduced into the stage boxes.

Credits:

Power Plan M&E engineers

Momentum structural engineers

Equals Project and Cost Management

Montagu Evans Planning consultants

Working in collaboration with Haworth Tompkins Architects on new housing and public realm in Barking