The Kings Place development at King’s Cross is an unusual combination of arts centre and office building and incorporates the first new public concert hall built in London since the Barbican was completed in 1982.
LocationLondon
ArchitectDixon Jones
ClientParabola Land Ltd
Project TypePublic Space
CollectionsMass Timber
Structural EngineerArup Associates
Main ContractorSir Robert McAlpine
Joinery ContractorSwift Horsman Ltd
Timber SpeciesEuropean oak
Timber ElementsInterior panelling to ceiling coffers, columns, walls, balcony fronts, doors, seat backs
The Kings Place development at King’s Cross is an unusual combination of arts centre and office building and incorporates the first new public concert hall built in London since the Barbican was completed in 1982. There are two performance spaces, linked by a double height foyer. The main hall, a classic ‘shoebox’ shape, holds 420 people – 300 seats in the gently raking stalls and 120 seats in a continuous first-floor gallery along the walls.
It is intimate enough for chamber music ensembles yet large enough to accommodate a small orchestra. The smaller hall is a flat, flexible studio space for rehearsals and informal studio performance.
At present two resident orchestras rehearse and perform at Kings Place – The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the London Sinfonietta. The interiors of both halls are clad with veneer sourced from a single massive oak tree.
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