Taunton School Theatre
Taunton, United Kingdom


Seat Count: 250
Project Type: Renovation
Original Building 1835
Renovation Complete : 1994
Architects: Architecture for the Arts
Theatre Consultants: Architecture for the Arts
AD Scope: Acoustics

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Taunton School has converted the Grade 1 Listed Memorial Hall into a courtyard theatre and music space. The 200-seat room supports educational and performance uses by the school and provides a new venue for the community of Taunton to complement the existing Brewhouse Theatre.

AD designed customizable acoustics to accommodate the wide variation of use. The photorealistic renderings above show the room settings for a recital and for theatre use. The room setting for recitals utilizes no added sound-absorbing material to allow for maximum reverberance. The room setting for theatre has sound-absorbing draperies on the side walls to maximize clarity for speech.

The approach to the design, based on the listing of the building, has been to distinguish clearly between the historic fabric and the new steel-framed theatre seating tiers.

Since 1933, the Memorial Hall has been in use as the school theatre. During the renovation, however, the stage was moved to the opposite end of the hall to expose the great window to view.