Conservation Management Plan For The National Theatre August 2009 Haworth Tompkins Conservation Management Plan for the National Theatre August 2009 Haworth Tompkins Ltd 19-20 Great Sutton Street London EC1V 0DR Front Cover: Haworth Tompkins Ltd 2008 Theatre Square entrance, winter - HTL 2008 Foreword When, in December 2007, Time Out magazine celebrated the National Theatre as one of the seven wonders of London, a significant moment in the rising popularity of the building had occurred. Over the decades since its opening in 1976, Denys Lasdun’s building, listed Grade II* in 1994. has come to be seen as a London landmark, and a favourite of theatre-goers. The building has served the NT company well. The innovations of its founders and architect – the ampleness of the foyers, the idea that theatre doesn’t start or finish with the rise and fall of the curtain – have been triumphantly borne out. With its Southbank neighbours to the west of Waterloo Bridge, the NT was an early inhabitant of an area that, thirty years later, has become one of the world’s major cultural quarters. The river walk from the Eye to the Design Museum now teems with life - and, as they pass the National, we do our best to encourage them in. The Travelex £10 seasons and now Sunday opening bear out the theatre’s 1976 slogan, “The New National Theatre is Yours”. Greatly helped by the Arts Council, the NT has looked after the building, with a major refurbishment in the nineties, and a yearly spend of some £2million on fabric, infrastructure and equipment. Board and management are united in feeling a responsibility to maintain the building in good condition for audiences of up to 20,000 per week and for the 1,000 or so permanent staff, actors, directors and designers who work here year-round. Hence our decision to commission this Conservation Management Plan. As its pages reveal, the more one knows about the building, the more one understands. The Plan will influence ongoing care and maintenance and future capital development will respond to, and be shaped by, its recommendations. Nick Starr Executive Director Dancing in Theatre Square during ‘Watch This Space’ 2007 - photo: David Heath 2007 5 Contents INTRODUCTION 10 1. UNDERSTANDING 14 • The idea of a National Theatre 14 • A Site and Architect for the National Theatre 16 • The Building 20 • The Auditoriums 38 • The National Theatre: Reception and Esteem 42 • Denys Lasdun & Architectural Context 46 • Developments since 1977 50 • The National Theatre Today 58 • South Bank Today 68 2. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE 70 3. ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES 72 • Changing attitudes towards the building 72 • The changing role of a National Theatre 72 • The changing context of the South Bank 74 Land ownership and adjacencies 75 Public Circulation and Access 76 • Operational Pressures 78 Changing use of the foyers 78 Changes in theatrical production 79 Space pressures 79 • Sustainability 80 Environmental 80 Wear and tear 80 Commercial and business pressures 82 4. CONSERVATION STRATEGY 84 • Introduction 84 • Impact Assessment 85 • Conservation Principles 86 • Elements 92 • Schedule of Elements 94 • Urban Context 96 • South Bank 96 • Waterloo Bridge 100 • Queen’s Walk 102 • Cottesloe Avenue and service yard 104 6 National Theatre Conservation Management Plan 2009 • Upper Ground 106 • Theatre Avenue 108 • Theatre Square 110 • Signage and Public Realm Lighting 112 • External Edges 114 • West Corner 116 • North Corner 120 • Cottesloe Theatre Entrance 124 • Workshop Block 126 • Waterloo Bridge Link 128 • Terraces 130 • Roofs 134 • Dressing Room Courtyard 136 • Basement 138 • Concrete 140 • External Windows 144 • Brickwork 148 • Exterior Lighting 150 • Front of House 154 • Foyers 154 • Primary Elements 156 • Secondary Elements 158 • Colour 160 • Furniture & Fittings 162 • Signage 164 • Displays 168 • Lighting 170 • Entrance Foyer, Bookshop & Box office 174 • Basement Foyer 176 • Lyttelton Foyer 178 • Lyttelton Café & Espresso Bar 182 • Terrace Café 184 • Mezzanine Restaurant 186 • Olivier Foyer 188 • Circle cafe 190 • Service Spaces 192 • The Theatres 194 • Olivier Theatre 196 • Lyttelton Theatre 202 • Cottesloe Theatre 206 7 Contents • Back of House 210 • Administrative Offices 212 • Kitchen & Canteen Areas 214 • Dressing Rooms 216 • Wigs, Wardrobe & Dye room 218 • Circulation & Secondary Spaces 220 • Workshops, Drum Road & Dock Door 222 • Rehearsal Rooms 224 • Service Spaces 226 5. SOURCES OF INFORMATION 228 • List of Illustrations 228 • Published and Unpublished Sources 236 • Statutory Listing Description 239 • South Bank Conservation Area Statement 240 6. APPENDIX 242 • Plans - As Built / Current 242 • ‘A Strategy for the Future’ - Denys Lasdun and Partners, 1989 258 Notes on terminology and references: The National Theatre will also be referred to throughout the document as the NT and the National. The Conservation Management Plan may be abbreviated to CMP Previously cited sources will be shortened to (Author, date) 8 National Theatre Conservation Management Plan 2009 National Theatre terraces from Waterloo Bridge, with St Paul’s in the background (montage). NT Archive 1970s 9 Introduction The Purpose and circumstances of the Conservation Management Plan The National Theatre is an exceptional public building of national and international importance. Since its opening in 1976, the theatre has undergone a number of changes in response to perceived shortcomings or new operational needs. Under the directorship of Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr, the NT is now approaching a new phase of thinking about its mission, which may include the provision of additional facilities and extensions. Under these circumstances, the need for a reference guide to the qualities of the NT’s architecture, underwritten by both the theatre and by statutory conservation bodies, has become clear. Commissioned by the NT’s Directors and Trustees, the Conservation Management Plan (CMP) will be used to examine the architectural and cultural significance of the Grade II* listed building, to assess the ways in which past alterations have either contributed to or detracted from that significance, and to provide a framework within which any future changes or repairs to the building should be developed. The Plan anticipates, but remains independent from, a Future Strategy document that will explore the ways in which the building could respond to its changing context and to the NT’s currently evolving ideas of institutional transparency. The scope and limitations of the Plan The CMP is not an academic treatise, nor is it a comprehensive catalogue of every physical aspect of the building. Rather, it is a working document to assist decision-making around the issues of prospective change, necessary repairs and ongoing maintenance. In order to arrive at a concise conservation strategy, however, it is necessary to understand the roots of the architecture. The scope of the CMP as a whole is to: • Place the building in its historic architectural context • Trace the original design intent and development of the design, including the aspirations for the external spaces and relationship to its urban context • Describe and assess the main changes that have occurred over the years, including urban developments in the surrounding area • Rate the current fabric in terms of conservation value and significance • Identify opportunities for improvements, connections or extension to the building • Provide a clear set of principles and policies to which any such changes must comply. These principles and policies are framed to: • Recognise the primacy of Lasdun’s vision for the place and value the hierarchy that distinguishes the treatment of major public spaces, minor public spaces and performers’ and staff areas, and service areas 10 National Theatre Conservation Management Plan 2009 • Permit adaptations and new works which are compatible with the above and which will make the place more effective in its principal intended use as a performing arts centre • Identify elements which adversely affect the place and which should be modified or removed • Retain the intended sequence of experiences both day and night as patrons and visitors progress through the space and around the building • Retain the character and quality of the building and its various elements, including its immediate setting • Retain the integrity of the original structural systems • Provide an approach to the conservation of deteriorating fabric • Draw attention to the need for co-ordination of planning, continuity of conservation advice and good housekeeping procedures • Outline procedures by which the objectives above may be achieved The CMP is divided into the following sections: 1. Understanding Describes the history and architectural conception of the National Theatre and its building. 2. Significance Summarises the key points of the Understanding section and gives a concise reference guide to the NT’s values. 3. Issues and Opportunities Describes the pressures that currently bear on the building, and the threats these may pose to significance, as well as the ways in which they might be enlisted to reinforce the architecture. 4. Conservation Strategy Analyses all aspects of the building as a series of elements and sets out policies for maintenance, repair and change. The approach to conservation strategy is tailored to different elements of the building according to a stated hierarchy of significance. Elements that are considered of high architectural value have specific and detailed policies to guide maintenance,