Misplaced Pages

#244755

24-448: The Hexagon is a multi-purpose theatre and arts venue in Reading, Berkshire , England. Built in 1977 in the shape of an elongated hexagon , the theatre is operated by Reading Borough Council under the name "Reading Arts and Venues" along with South Street Arts Centre and Reading's concert hall . The theatre was built in 1977 by Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall (RMJM), who also built

48-677: A charity school , Bluecoat Chambers in School Lane is the oldest surviving building in central Liverpool , England . Following the Liverpool Blue Coat School 's move to another site in 1906, the building was rented from 1907 onwards by the Sandon Studios Society. Based on the presence of this art society and the subsequent formation of the Bluecoat Society of Arts in 1927, the successor organisation laid claim to being

72-426: A broken pediment containing a cartouche of the arms of Liverpool. Each wing has three square-headed doors approached by steps. The wall, railings and gate piers on School Lane are also listed at Grade I. The 2005-2008 renovation at a cost of £14 million also included a new 2250 square metre extension, the architects being BIQ Architecten. The architects found that there were 32 different floor levels in

96-610: A centre for working artists and craftspeople. Some of the events have continued to hold a place in history. The 1908 exhibition of works mostly by members of the Sandon Society also included the first showing in Liverpool of Claude Monet who received a special invite. In 1911, the Sandon Society took on parts of Roger Fry 's London Post-Impressionist exhibition, showing works by Picasso , Matisse , Cézanne , and Van Gogh for

120-411: A copper cap with a finial . The wings have three storeys; they are eleven bays long and one bay wide. On the ground and first floor the windows are square-headed while those on the top floor are oval. The end elevations have arched windows which match the central block. All the large windows have keystones with cherubs ' heads. The main door in the centre of the central block has Ionic columns with

144-607: A number of seats unusable during performances that utilised the proscenium. A review of the Hexagon's architectural design in a 1979 edition of the Architects' Journal surmised that dramatic performances were seen as a low priority in the design—despite an estimated quarter of all events being of this type. The stalls, which use removable and retractable seats, have less headroom than the balcony above. This results in shallow overhangs . The theatre floor, which usually holds stall seating,

168-555: A programme of enabling access to wheelchair users and disabled individuals and groups. In the rest of Europe it is common among most art centres that they are partly government funded, since they are considered to have a positive influence on society and economics according to the Rhineland model philosophy. Many of those organisations started in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s as squatted spaces and were later legalized. Italy Palestine Bluecoat Chambers Built in 1716–17 as

192-557: A restaurant and a café and a number of retail outlets. On 13 May 2008, a fire broke out in a kitchen on the first floor of the west wing causing significant damage, although 80% of the building was unaffected. Over the years the Bluecoat hosted a range of cultural and arts-associated events. These included art exhibitions, debates, discussions, public meetings and campaigns, poetry readings, musical concerts and recitals, and cultural lectures. It held book, record, and antiques fairs and became

216-498: Is adjustable to allow a contiguous service with the stage, providing a 517 square metres (5,560 sq ft) surface. The balconies, which are separated by gaps around the auditorium, are similar to those at Christchurch Town Hall in New Zealand. Similarly, the inclined panels around the room—to introduce reflections —may have been inspired by that venue. The venue allows a number of different seating configurations, which affect

240-484: Is roughly 30 metres (98 ft). Originally, the Hexagon used an electronically assisted reverberation system; this has now been removed. In a review of the system, one author wrote that the system "seemed inaudible in the stalls but made a minor contribution in the balcony", concluding that it "still [left] an inadequate sense of reverberation." Acoustic panelling is used throughout the auditorium. The ceiling features rotatable acoustic screens to provide reflections to

264-524: The Bluecoat Arts Centre from the 1980s, it is now simply called the Bluecoat. From 2005, the building was further restored and a new wing added. It was reopened in March 2008 to coincide with Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture . The Bluecoat is built in brick with painted stone dressings and a slate roof. H-shaped in plan, originally the rear of the school resembled the front but in 1821 it

SECTION 10

#1732901733245

288-453: The Bluecoat Society of Arts was founded in Liverpool in 1927 following the efforts of a group of artists and art lovers who had occupied Bluecoat Chambers since 1907. Most British art centres began after World War II and gradually changed from mainly middle-class places to 1960s and 1970s trendy , alternative centres and eventually in the 1980s to serving the whole community with

312-464: The adjacent Civic Centre . The original design featured a proscenium but no fly tower . Upon opening, the venue was comparable to Derby 's Assembly Rooms—which also opened in 1977—but the Hexagon was described as architecturally and acoustically superior. As the building was designed to operate as a multi-use venue, the arena-style seating was used to avoid limited visibility. This proved useful for sports such as snooker or boxing , but rendered

336-425: The balcony seats. In acoustic tests performed by Sound Research Laboratories, the venue was found to have a short reverberation time —roughly one second in theatre configuration—which results in a high objective clarity. The assisted resonance system was found to increase this to 1.5 seconds at 200 Hz. The balcony seats have been described as having an inadequate level of early reflections and speech performance

360-487: The capacity. For performances with a proscenium arch , the capacity is 946. This increases to 1,200 for an all-seated concert and 1,686 for standing with balcony seating. The various seating arrangements affect the auditorium volume—8,280 cubic metres (292,000 cu ft) and 5,720 cubic metres (202,000 cu ft) respectively for music and drama performances, as well as the reverberation times—1.1 seconds for concerts and 0.9 seconds for drama. The theatre's diameter

384-688: The first time in the UK outside the capital. In 1967 Yoko Ono appeared at the Bluecoat, at a time before she met John Lennon . The Bluecoat was also visited by performing artists as Stravinsky , Michael Nyman , Doris Lessing and the Last Poets. The Bluecoat was reopened on 15 March 2008, during Liverpool's year as a European Capital of Culture , by Andy Burnham , the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport . The opening exhibition, entitled Now Then , showed work by five artists, including Yoko Ono. During

408-464: The following night the rear wing was destroyed by a bomb blast. Restoration took place after the war, being completed by 1951. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building , having been designated on 28 June 1952. The Bluecoat Display Centre, a contemporary craft gallery, opened in the rear courtyard in 1959. Being known as

432-463: The idea. Lever's death in 1925 again led to proposals for demolition. A successful campaign to raise money for the purchase of Bluecoat Chambers resulted in the establishment of the Bluecoat Society of Arts in 1927 as a charitable trust to run the building. On 3 May 1941, during the Liverpool Blitz , the concert hall and adjoining rooms were severely damaged by an incendiary bomb and during

456-410: The industrialist William Lever to rent Bluecoat Chambers in 1909 and subsequently buy it, renaming it Liberty Buildings. Sharing the space with the Sandon Society, Reilly moved in with his School of Architecture from 1909 until shortly after World War I . In 1913–14, Lever entertained the thought of a larger building scheme to transform Liberty Buildings into an art centre but, by 1918, got tired with

480-403: The old building. They carried out much structural change to produce exhibition areas with better accessibility. The new extension is built mainly in brick to link with the old building, although it has a copper roof and more modern materials internally. The new wing houses a flexible performance area and four art galleries. In addition, the complex provides studios for artists and craftspeople,

504-581: The oldest arts centre in Great Britain, now called the Bluecoat . The school was founded in 1708 by the Reverend Robert Styth (died 1713 ), rector of Liverpool, and Bryan Blundell , a sea captain and later twice Mayor of Liverpool (1721–22 and 1728–29). Originally constructed in 1716–17, the building was extended until 1718 to function as a boarding school . By the following year, it had 50 children, with room for 100 more, and construction

SECTION 20

#1732901733245

528-517: Was finally completed in 1725. After the school moved to a new site in Wavertree in 1906, the building was threatened with demolition. It was rented out from 1907 to the Sandon Studios Society, an independent art school and art society. The building's future still unsecured, it took the intervention of the architect Charles Herbert Reilly , head of the Liverpool School of Architecture. He convinced

552-682: Was judged to be poor. It has been concluded that rectifying the room's acoustics for the benefit of theatre and speech would be detrimental to other uses of the venue such as boxing. Events include classical music, comedy, dance, drama, pop and rock concerts. In past years the venue has also been used for snooker . Arts venue In the United States , "art centers" are generally either establishments geared toward exposing, generating, and making accessible art making to arts-interested individuals, or buildings that rent primarily to artists, galleries, or companies involved in art making. In Britain ,

576-449: Was remodeled giving it a convex-shaped elevation. The front encloses three sides of a quadrangle and is separated from School Lane by a low wall with railings and gatepiers. The central block of five bays has two storeys with round-arched windows; the central three bays project forwards under a pediment containing a clock which has only an hour hand. On the roof is an octagonal cupola with round-arched openings, attached Ionic columns and

#244755