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Image: Chris Stock
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The facts
Client: Sir Robert McAlpine
Location: Cardiff (South East
Wales)
Services: Architecture
Sector: Arts & Culture
Contract Type: Design &
Build
Project Value: £13m
Start/Completion: April 2007 – Sept
2008
The project
Designed by our architecture division,
Capita Architecture, BBC Hoddinott Hall is a relatively new
addition to the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) site in Cardiff
Bay.
Named after the late Welsh composer - Alun
Hoddinott - the venue provides the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
with a bespoke rehearsal and performance space that can accommodate
an orchestra of 110, a chorus of 130 and an audience of 350.
The project began when Capita Architecture
(who also designed the WMC) was approached with regards to the
provision of a new home for the Orchestra which had outgrown its
residence at BBC Wales Broadcasting House in North Cardiff after 40
years.
The main requirement of the brief prepared by
David Murray, Director of the Orchestra, was to provide a facility
that was: “Primarily for orchestral and chorus-use, of an acoustic
standard suitable for digital recording to the highest broadcasting
/ commercial CD standards with the built-in capability of being
used as a performance area with medium-sized audience.”
Numerous design options were explored before
the final selection - a design that enabled public access into the
building via the existing WMC box office foyer. The design also
included room for a separate studio – named after Welsh composer
Grace Williams – which would not only provide auxiliary rehearsal
space for the Orchestra but would provide a base for its education
and community outreach work.
The completed BBC Hoddinott Hall comprises an
array of features including a control/recording room and editing
room acoustically isolated from the main hall and from each other;
green rooms for conductor & artists; four music practice rooms;
an orchestral band room; the Grace Williams Studio; a music
library; an instrument store; and office space for up to 30
people.
In February 2009, BBC Hoddinott Hall
officially opened with a gala festival. It was greeted with praise
by orchestra and audience alike for the appearance of the hall and
also its acoustics - testimony to the coordinated efforts of BBC
National Orchestra of Wales, the design team and the contractor,
Sir Robert McAlpine.
Awards
- Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Cardiff Excellence
Awards -Winner ‘Large Commercial’ category