In this project for the Royal Northern College of Music, MBLA extended and refurbished the restaurant and bar facilities for students and concert-goers, also designing new teaching and conference facilities.
Public areas of the 1971 brutalist building were transformed into contemporary light-filled, warm and expressive spaces. Free-floating curved planar elements were inserted into the double height space. Light emanates from behind the edges of these elements to underline the notion of inserted layers, to reinforce the ceiling articulation, to engender a feeling of warmth and to accentuate the texture of the original concrete walls. The project was run on a tight budget with close co-operative working between the design team, client and contractor allowing successful completion within an extremely short timescale.
