The Royal Academy of Music has just unveiled two impressive new spaces: a fully refurbished theatre and a brand new recital hall. Both were designed by Ian Ritchie Architects, and I was lucky enough to photograph them in pristine condition just as they were being completed in January. The Academy put on their first show in the theatre last week and The Observer described the theatre:
"The space, at the academy’s central London site, is gorgeous, enfolding an audience of 300 in a warm, cherrywood-lined, semicircular embrace, with excellent sightlines and up-to-the minute technical facilities backstage. The comfortable seating (with good legroom for we lanky music-lovers) is a bright, cheerful red – apparently in tribute to architect Ian Ritchie’s beloved Liverpool FC"
Photographically, it was lovely to have two such different spaces to shoot: the warm, sparkling theatre and the lighter, airier recital hall above lined with lime-washed oak. It was the genius of Ian and his team to suggest that this new space could be added on top of the existing theatre, with the chamfered roof to hide it from the surrounding Marylebone streets and satisfy the planners.
