Date
Author
Colette O'Hagan
Celebrating 40 Years of R H Partnership at ACCA
We were delighted so many of our friends, clients and collaborators braved the rain recently and joined us to help us celebrate the completion of our refurbishment of the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA), and our 40 years in architecture.
We were also honoured that Michael Attenborough joined us and addressed us all and we are very appreciative of his praise of our restoration of ACCA.
I've been working in the theatre for 45 years and, believe me, it's incredibly easy to mess up the design/redesign of theatres. The country is sadly littered with numerous examples.
rhp have excelled, in their recent comprehensive work on the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts at the University of Sussex, in blending a major new interior redesign with the original Basil Spence concept.
I know the Centre well - I was at Sussex when it opened in 1970, was President of the Drama Society and appeared in and directed numerous productions - and I could produce an alarming list of mistakes and problems the building contained, both practical and aesthetic.
rhp have managed to solve those problems spectacularly well. As a result, we now have an Arts Centre that is extremely stylish, without being off puttingly posh or precious, complete with spaces accessible to all, that serve artists and audiences alike. Particularly the main theatre, which pulls off the difficult trick of working for both theatre and music. Your heart instinctively lifts as you enter and the sight lines, acoustics and overall design do everything they can to enhance your enjoyment.
Sussex now possesses an arguably unique resource - an elegant and exciting meeting point for the university community, professional artists and the surrounding community. For me personally, its renaissance, now in my father's name, means a huge amount and, were he alive today to see it, I know he would feel very proud and extremely honoured.
Michael Attenborough CBE
Photographer Simon Callaghan was on hand to record the evening and you can view his photos here.
Given that the average person spends approximately a third of their life at work, working with people you like becomes all the more important. Thank you again to all who joined us.