In London’s northwest corner, Wembley, home to an eponymous stadium (of soccer legend) and arena (of concert lore), will soon have yet another landmark named after it: Wembley Theatre, a 1,300-seat venue slated to be up and running by 2017. Designed by London architecture firm Flanagan Lawrence , this new performing arts space has been fashioned as an inverse to theater-in-the-round. With it, the stage will surround an auditorium. To make that arrangement work, the architects, working with the Dutch theatre company Imagine Nation, devised a technical innovation, creating an auditorium that rotates 360 degrees, providing a kinetic panorama of the stage.
Flanagan Lawrence won the project as a result of a design competition. The new building will occupy a space next to the stadium and arena. In yet another twist, the client has only a 10-year lease to occupy its site, meaning that by 2027, it will dismantle the structure and transport it elsewhere. To take that relatively short lifespan into account, the architects designed a structural system that allow the venue to be quickly assembled (and disassembled) on-site. With the theater’s steel frame and prefabricated cladding, the company can pick up and move with relative ease.
The auditorium will rotate 360 degrees.
The project comes at a time when London officials have targeted Wembley for urban regeneration, hoping to make the area known for more than its oversize venues. Part of their strategy relies on arts-based developments like Wembley Theatre. In collaboration with film production company Lionsgate, Imagine Nation will inaugurate its new London space with a staging of The Hunger Games on June 8.
