Elizabethan Theatre,

Chateau d'Hardelot - Landscaping 2021

Condette, France

Completed 2018

Winner, World Architecture News Wood in Architecture Award 2018

Nominated, European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture -Mies van der Rohe Prize

Special Commendation, GAGA Awards, the Galvanisers’ Association

Our Château d'Hardelot Elizabethan Theatre is situated in parkland adjacent to an 80-hectare natural park, a uniquely privileged position for a resolutely contemporary building which seeks to shift the paradigm of ecological construction. Costing 4.2 million euros (exclusive of fees and taxes), it consists of a 388-seat auditorium with public front of house spaces and an underground backstage. Approached across a lawn, the building hides its entrance from the principal approach route; one must discover the building's asymmetrical volumes before finding the front door. The massing is dynamic, inviting movement around it, and dissimulates any exterior perception of the axis of the auditorium. The entrance presents a view penetrating right to the heart of the auditorium, as if the building's centre was a clearing in the woods.

After completion of the building we were commissioned to develop the broader context. Working with L+A Landscape architects we completed the full grassed surrounds of the building (including the approach road for delivery access) and planted high grasses creating a buffer around the north side. A circle of seven oaks was installed as a hinge space leading to the recently completed Tudor Garden; the trees were set out on the diameter of the auditorium inside.

The photographs on this page were taken in September 2021 to mark the maturation of the building's surrounding landscape.

See also for this project: Exteriors / Auditorium / Process / Construction / Details / Servant

Client: Conseil Départemental du Pas de Calais

Size: 1233 m2

Budget: 4.3 million euros (building, construction cost before tax)

Team:

Studio Andrew Todd architects, auditorium and landscape design

Niclas Dünnebacke

Philip Mellor-Ribet

Bridget O'Rourke

Nadia Raïs

Solveig Rottier

Andrew Todd

L+A Landscape Architects

LM Structural and Environmental Engineering

Charcoalblue Acoustics and Theatre Consultants

Bureau Michel Forgue, Cost Consultant

Cabinet Casso, Fire Engineering