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Young Vic Theatre
Haworth Tompkins | |
| location | London |
| function | theatre |
| contributed by | Kirsten_Hannema |
The Young Vic theatre, built on a WWII bomb site in 1970, was intended as temporary accommodation for five years. Due to lack of funds, the adjoining Victorian-era butcher's shop, which had survived the blast, was fitted out by architect Bill Howell as a foyer space. Over the years, it was precisely this rather makeshift character that became the defining feature of the Young Vic. Accordingly, Haworth Tompkins strove to retain that informal atmosphere in their design for a refurbished, better appointed Young Vic. The new theatre still gives the impression of an ad hoc collection of discrete elements; the shop was not demolished, for example, just renovated. The new materials contribute to the desired impression. The theatre's new 'signboard' is the cladding of the auditorium: hand-painted cement-board panels faced by steel mesh. This mesh, which appears coppery by day and is illuminated by night, gives the Young Vic an industrial theatricality.
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