Theatre Royal | Glasgow

The foyer extension for Scottish Opera at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal was focused on creating a transformational experience for audiences, encouraging wider community engagement and building a sustainable business for the future.

The project focused on the audience’s journey from ‘street to seat’ – on improved approach, entrance, intuitive internal wayfinding and the provision of enhanced audience facilities. Provision of lifts to provide full access to all upper theatre balconies and compliance with accessibility legislation was an important driver behind the project, but also the Client’s desire to literally ‘open up’ the theatre and opera as an art form by the provision of open and welcoming foyers to attract a wider audience.

To provide a column free interior the edge structural articulation of the various plan levels plays various roles, cantilevering in one direction towards the free standing middle of the plan, sheltering the ground level approach and finally shaping the roof line expression. Requiring significant depth to carry out these roles, the lateral length of the structural columns is exploited to frame a perimeter of bays around the foyer, enclosed by a stepping ‘in and out’ metal cladding and glazing which wraps the structure and associated acoustically tempered ventilation boxes.