048 _ _MAR/APR 2019
THE OAK-LINED ADDITION TO LONDON’S ROYAL
ACADEMY OF MUSIC IS AN ODE TO WOOD AND THE
ELEGANCE OF STRING INSTRUMENTS
WORDS _Eric Mutrie
PHOTOGRAPH _Adam Scott
Finely Tuned
When it came to stripping away the seventies-
era trappings of the Royal Academy of Music’s
main theatre last year, London-based Ian Ritchie
Architects can safely be said to have hit all the
right notes. During the feasibility studies to deter-
mine what kind of structural alterations might be
necessary, the firm identified an especially exciting
possibility: A second, six-metre-tall performance
space could be introduced on the rooftop.
The challenge then became to ensure that this
new, 100 -seat recital hall and the freshly trans-
formed, 309 -seat Susie Sainsbury Theatre below
it would be acoustically independent. To that end,
each of the upper venue’s steel columns rests on
an elastomeric isolation bearing, while the hall’s
base slab is buffered from the theatre’s ceiling
slab by a 30 -centimetre void. “You can record a
performance going on in the recital hall and not
pick up any of the opera that’s being performed
downstairs,” says the project’s lead architect,
Brian Heron.
Sonic considerations aside, it was also para-
mount that the two spaces have distinct yet har-
monious visual identities. While both are defined
by dense woods – chosen for the way that they
reflect sound and the ease with which they can
be profiled to facilitate acoustic fine tuning – the
recital hall favours a pale, lime-washed oak that
offers a cool contrast to the faceted cherry wood
finish that now lines the space below. “Where the
new theatre’s ambience is epic,” explains Heron,
“the recital hall is tranquil and calming.”
Nonetheless, the upstairs venue does have one
moment of sweeping grandiosity: a central oculus
that draws inspiration from the manufacturing and
tuning of Stradivarius instruments. While the design
features a highly complex ogee curve, the joinery
pros at James Johnson & Co proved up to the
manufacturing challenge. By cutting thin, tapering
strips of oak and then bending, gluing and pinning
each one into place on frameworks, Johnson’s
team was able to break the grand structure down
into four manageable prefabricated sections. After
prototypes were tested for performance in an
acoustics lab, the final pieces were fitted together
on-site and raised into place below the roof’s
glazed opening.
Stunning even in silence – but at its best, natu-
rally, during a performance – the recital hall is the
unexpected second venue the Royal Academy of
Music had never thought it could accommodate.
In other words, it’s the ultimate bonus track.
ianritchiearchitects.co.ukFocus
The rooftop venue’s oculus
was devised to reflect sound,
light and warmth while
highlighting the poetic
transformations that wood
undergoes during instrument
assembly. The high ceiling
and sloping walls contribute
to both reverberance and a
stately sense of place._Interior Wood