Ocean Music Venue, Mare Street, London

This large site on a busy high street comprised the refurbishment and integration of two historic buildings, a Methodist Hall and a Carnegie Library, into a multi-use space. The largest components of the newly made interior became three broadcast-quality performance spaces, leaving ample room for the home of the Rising Tide arts charity, and seven different food and beverage outlets. MAAPS provided interior design services for all public and back-of-house areas.

The three performing stages were designed with different uses in mind. The main hall, seating up to 2100 people, was designed for music and theatre. The second space had a 300-person capacity and two stage locations, enabling the setup of portrait- or landscape-style productions. The third and more intimate space contained 100 seats and was designed for experimental and non-mainstream music.

The design directive was to create a space that would pursue an imaginative artistic policy that balanced traditional, contemporary, classical and popular music at the highest level, reflecting the different ethnic and cultural traditions of the borough. Along with the vibrant use of colour and robust materials, each venue space incorporated purpose-designed variable acoustic surfaces to tailor the sound qualities and enhance the performance characteristics of many varieties of musical styles. Due to its focus on public good, this was a National Lottery-funded project.

This large site on a busy high street comprised the refurbishment and integration of two historic buildings, a Methodist Hall and a Carnegie Library, into a multi-use space. The largest components of the newly made interior became three broadcast-quality performance spaces, leaving ample room for the home of the Rising Tide arts charity, and seven different food and beverage outlets. MAAPS provided interior design services for all public and back-of-house areas.

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