Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

Civic Trust Award 2012

Building Awards – shortlisted for Project of the Yea

To achieve acoustic excellence and theatrical intimacy, architect BFLS designed the college from the inside out. The college’s internal spaces – a 450 seat concert hall, a 160 seat theatre, two rehearsal rooms, a foyer and café/bar – are expressed externally, creating a building of juxtaposed volumes and rich textures under a dramatically sweeping roofline.

The building’s architectural verve made it structurally challenging – its steel frame had to be tailored to constantly changing geometries while the roof juts beyond the building cluster in a daring 10m cantilever. Acoustic isolation of from the rest of the structure and the need to achieve the BREEAM Excellent sustainability standard added a further challenge.

Seamless co-ordination between all the disciplines was imperative for smooth delivery of this project. Performing arts buildings have large open spaces. Combined with the unique geometry of the building that means there’s a lot of structural steelwork doing unusual things. Although the college makes extensive use of natural ventilation, mechanical air handling is required to assure performer and audience comfort.

Mott MacDonald developed a 3D BIM model integrating architectural, structural and building services designs. As each discipline developed and refined its own component of the project the central structural model was updated. If a beam or column was moved and it clashed with an air duct or cable run, the model alerted the team, enabling the clash to be resolved then and there. Exceptionally for any project, let alone one of such complexity, no redesign was required to rectify clashes encountered during construction.

Source: Mott MacDonald