Commissioned by the University of Birmingham, the state-of–the-art Bramall Music building was designed by Glenn Howells Architects.
Situated within the historic, Aston Webb-designed Grade II Chancellor’s Court semi-circle, the music building features a 450-seat concert hall named, Elgar Concert Hall designed by acoustician Nicholas Edwards of Acoustic Dimensions. The hall has a movable stage, and is able to seat an entire orchestra and choir, or a single soloist.
There is a lift capable of hoisting a car from a drive-in loading bay directly onto the stage. The hall also offers most up-to-date audio visual systems, and is designed to host various concerts and events.
Designed with adaptable spaces, the concert hall and its acoustics can be configured for rehearsals and performances ranging from solo recitals to full symphony orchestra, 200-strong University Choir, multi-projector video and music-theatre presentations, and the electroacoustic studios’ 100-channel sound diffusion system (the ‘BEAST’).
Created as a flexible place for rehearsals, the Dome Rehearsal Room can be used for solos and ensembles or a full symphony orchestra. It can also be configured for small-scale recitals or theatrical performances.
Besides that Bramall Music Building also features a range of teaching spaces including seminar rooms, which double as spaces for rehearsals, practice rooms, and a recording studio linked to the concert hall and Dome rehearsal room.
The building offers rooms to store the collection of early music instruments for teaching and rehearsal, and a range of electroacoustic studios, including a large teaching studio whose computers are equipped with composition and music-processing software (Sibelius).
The new building also features social spaces and a coffee bar. A new pipe organ – the first to be built in the UK by the French builder Marc Garnier – will be installed in the summer of 2014.
The Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, and is organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The six buildings shortlisted for the prize will be announced on 18 July, with the winner declared on 26 September at an evening event at Central St Martins in London.
