Alison Brooks Architects from London have completed Quarterhouse modern office design which in December 2005 have won the two stage national competition for the design of the Folkestone Arts and Business Centre. The project is part of the once popular seaside town’s attempt to revitalise its fortunes through arts-led projects.
The building includes a 220 seat, 500 standing multi-purpose auditorium for music, dance, theatre, film performances and conferences; ground floor foyer and exhibition space. At the first floor, visitor can find café/bar and a top floor business enterprise centre.
The project was started on site in early summer 2007, developed through 2006, and is being completed in February 2009. Kent County Council is the project’s fund raiser of a £3.5M grant, along with a further £500,000 from the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).
The Quarterhouse was conceived as both a ‘beacon’ announcing a new cultural hub for Folkestone, and as a modest ‘bookend’ building completing the curved east facade of late Georgian buildings that form Tontine Street. The building’s most prominent feature, the fluted mesh cladding illuminated from behind at night, took its inspiration from both the maritime iconography of Folkestone – scallop shell window pediments and seaside town paraphernalia – as well as the fragile and translucent texture of the scallop shells that arrive in Folkestone’s harbour every day.
The cladding was developed to protect the building; provide an illusion of curvature on its flat facades through modulated flute spacing; a reference to stage curtains, and to provide a constantly changing perception of texture and pattern depending on the time of day and quality of light. All of these characteristics are intended to express the animation and movement of the creative life within the building.
Fundamental to the design of the Quarterhouse is the idea that the building will form a home for Folkestone’s performing arts, a haven for start-up creative businesses and a social hub for the wider public. The building’s name is intended to reinforce this idea – literally the Creative Quarter’s house.
Credits
Architect- Alison Brooks Architects Ltd.: Alison Brooks; Dominic McKenzie (Project Architect) ; Sophie Bates; Wanja Wechselberger; Marian Beschoner; Michael Woodford; Hikaru Nissanke; James Taylor
Structural Engineer- Akera Engineers
Theatre Consultant- Charcoalblue
M&E Consultant- Atelier Ten
Acoustic Consultant- Sandy Brown Associates
Quantity Surveyor- GPM partnership
Lighting Consultant- Harry S Lloyd Associates
Main Contractor - D.J. Ellis Construction Ltd.
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