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The QEH has over 900 seats and the Purcell Room , a linked but smaller venue for recitals, has 370 seats. These two auditoriums were built together and opened in March 1967 . They were designed as additions to the South Bank Centre arts complex, with the Hayward Gallery (opened in October 1968), by the architects department of the Greater London Council headed by Hubert Bennett. EXTERNAL LINKS
DESIGN: CONCEPT The concepts underlying the design of the QEH are Brutalism (although not a pure form of Brutalism), the plasticity of concrete as the key material used and an emphasis on providing uncluttered "pure" interior spaces with most services moved to the exterior. Pedestrians would be able to circulate freely around the exterior, including both above and below the foyer building. The large masses of the QEH and Purcell Room auditoriums are positioned by Waterloo Bridge to avoid detracting from the Royal Festival Hall , the prime building of the South Bank Centre . The QEH seems almost devoid of windows when seen by day, giving the bunker-like impression for which it is much criticised, because the windows are all sunken behind the line of the outside walls and roof line. The building completely integrates with the high level pedestrian walkway system introduced at the same time, to separate pedestrian and vehicle traffic as was widely considered desirable in the 1960's. DESIGN: FOYER The most notable feature of the QEH is the interior of the foyer building, with its intimate scale and subtle use of materials, and the terrace overlooking Queen's Walk. The 1960's cool of this area is now somewhat marred by more recent clutter but the space and the use of concrete, glass and marble are still apparent. The bar area and glazed central void capture the effect best. The building's main problems are its drab appearance by day, and the deadening effect of the overhead walkways on ground level circulation, large amounts of slack space on the walkways and the provision of only an external staircase to the roof terrace. It works much better by night, especially when approached from the eastern one of Golden Jubilee Footbridges beside Hungerford Bridge . The roof terrace and bridge to the Hayward Gallery are unfortunately now closed, making impossible one of the most interesting pedestrian circulation possibilities of the original design. The roof terrace is reached by the external concrete staircase at the west corner on Queen's Walk near Festival Pier, which also leads to the lower level and the route to Festival Square. The foyer is supported on octagonal reinforced concrete columns. with an undercroft below, and is vee-shaped. The two arms of the vee-shape are linked to the QEH auditorium by cast concrete tubes, reminiscent of a spaceship's docking arrangement. The foyer is an irregular shape to accommodate the change in angle between the lines of Waterloo Bridge and the north-east side of the Royal Festival Hall . The main entrance to the foyer is from walkway level near the north end of the terrace of the Royal Festival Hall . To see the intended effect this should be viewed head-on from the north corner of the Royal Festival Hall . You will need to envision the pure effect without the clutter of illuminated poster boxes,the fabric banner over the entrance, stained roof panel, paint on the external staircase and light fittings on the external wall. The entrance, in true Brutalist style, is in the form of a horizontal slit in a concrete structure, with six pairs of cast aluminium doors. A smaller entrance is provided at ground level, intended to be for visitors set down by car (circulation of traffic under the Waterloo Bridge approach was possible before the Museum Of The Moving Image building was constructed in the 1980's) or coming from the car park under the Hayward Gallery . This entrance also appears to have led to the undercroft but that access is now blocked off. An internal stairs leads to the foyer level from this lower entrance, past the original box office area. A cafe lines the north-west side of the foyer, with outdoor seating. While this is pleasant, the external walkway on which the outdoor part of the cafe is placed takes up a lot of space on Queen's Walk and has a deadening effect on Queen's Walk below. The lavatories take up the south-east wall of the foyer building and are housed in a structure cantilvered out towards the centre access road. This area presents an unfortunate blank facade to the walkway by the north-west facade of the Hayward Gallery . A crude disabled ramp, constructed of breeze blocks and bricks, has been added to the walkway in this area. DESIGN: AUDITORIUM The QEH auditorium is a separate building from the foyer. The auditorium building is aligned with the rear of its stage parallel to Waterloo Bridge and the seating area cantilevered out towards the foyer, supported by a massive column containing the emergency escape staircases at the rear. The north west facade by Waterloo Bridge , although stained by pollution and rain water, is a good example of the massive concrete forms popular in 1960's Brutalist Architecture in Britain. A slightly raised area, resembling a low stage is provided facing Waterloo Bridge. This may have been intended for outdoor performances. A great concrete "prow" protrudes towards the Thames , along the side of the auditorium at roof level. The walkway area below this feature is probably the least satisfactory part of the design for pedestrians, a slack space with little obvious purpose. At ground level, there is a utility/access area on Queen's Walk near Waterloo Bridge which again detracts from the pedestrian environment with the presence of delivery vans and waste bins. The undercroft of the QEH's elevated foyer building has become popular with skateboarders but is partly closed off. Ventilation services are provided from a plant room on the roof of the Purcell Room via a massive concrete duct between the buildings leading into the QEH roof, and a concrete tower leading to the concrete duct on the north-east edge of the foyer building roof. FUTURE
A further complication is the presence of the National Film Theatre (NFT), and former Museum Of The Moving Image building, below Waterloo Bridge . The British Film Institute wishes to obtain much expanded facilities with five screens and space for a national film archive. A plan was put forward in 2003/4 for this to be accommodated below the Hungerford Car Park site of the South Bank Centre but this is likely to be frustrated by Lambeth Council's decision to designate this site as Metropolitan Open Land. |
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