New Royal Academy of Music theatre wins RIBA award

Jonathan Dove's Flight opening the new Royal Academy of Music theatre (Photo Robert Workman)

The Royal Academy of Music's new performance spaces, the theatre and recital hall, have won the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) London Building of the Year, which means that the project is now considered for the RIBA National Awards, and the RIBA Stirling Prize, one of the foremost prizes for excellence in architecture. The Royal Academy of Music project shared top place in the London Building of the Year with the Victoria & Albert Museum Exhibition Road Quarter.

The Royal Academy of Music's Susie Sainsbury Theatre and Angela Burgess Recital Hall were designed by architect Ian Ritchie and transformed the college's facilities, not only providing a theatre and recital hall but practice and dressing rooms, and new percussion studios, a large refurbished jazz room and a new control suite for the Academy’s audiovisual Recordings Department. The project has also won the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Tourism & Leisure Award.

The theatre was opened in March 2018 with performances of Jonathan Dove's Flight (see my review)