Managing director Andy Hayles comments, "This is the fifteenth project that the Charcoalblue team has worked on to win a RIBA Award and the third that's been nominated for a Stirling Prize. From the moment the RST opened it quickly and emphatically showed its strengths. The single-space, thrust stage format is an exciting, intimate and aesthetically enchanting space to inhabit.
"It juxtaposes the traditional with the modern to bring a uniquely three-dimensional perspective to Shakespeare's plays. This is helped by the fact that we have been able to halve the distance from the furthest seat to the stage in comparison to the old theatre. It has been a triumph, both in terms of staging the shows and appreciating them."
Gavin Green, design director and project manager for the six year duration of the development continues, "Every detail of the new auditorium, from the fabric on the seats to the materials used around the auditorium and the entertainment technology specified has been deliberated over, fine-tuned and perfected. If it didn't exist it was invented - the award-winning RSC Light Lock being a case in point.
"This intense attention to detail from Rab Bennetts of architectural firm Bennetts Associates and from the staff and development team of the Royal Shakespeare Company has delivered an absolutely fantastic building. We hope this newly transformed Royal Shakespeare Theatre will stand the test of time and equal the legacy left by the original design, created by forward-thinking architect Elizabeth Scott."
The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling prize, for the building of the year, has been selected from the 97 RIBA Award winners and the winner will be announced on 1 October this year.
(Jim Evans)
