Photography: Morgan O’Donovan, courtesy of Manalo & White
Photography: Morgan O’Donovan, courtesy of Manalo & White
Photography: Morgan O’Donovan, courtesy of Manalo & White
Photography: Morgan O’Donovan, courtesy of Manalo & White
Frân Wen – or ‘White Raven’ – was a Welsh-language youth arts organisation in Bangor, Wales, in need of a venue. St Mary’s was a defunct Grade II-listed parish church in need of a purpose. After an international competition to combine them into a single cultural entity, last autumn they reemerged as Nyth – or ‘The Nest’ – an arts centre and stage for artistic endeavours by young people from low-income backgrounds. A robust schedule of projects has already gone a long way toward reinvigorating the heart of Bangor, Wales’s oldest town.
Manalo & White, London architects with a reputation for innovative, theatrical design, were selected to undertake the project and attacked the challenge with a sympathetic, resource-conscious approach. The practice restored the striking octagonal spire, original stained glass, rubble stone walls and Victorian buttresses while improving the building’s ventilation and acoustics. St Mary’s represents a major upgrade for the theatre group: a dedicated state-of-the-art space for rehearsing and performing with three main artistic spaces and seating for 80 guests.
A jumping-off point for the architects was a series of workshops with young people that established priorities like maintaining the building’s welcoming historic character and enhancing the local landscape. They pledged to recycle materials from the site, reusing pipes from the organ, ceramic tiles and stone from demolished walls. The wooden pews were repurposed as wall panelling, doors and joinery.
‘We learned that spaces typically designed for “kids” can be off-putting, and what they really wanted was a humble setting for creative exploration,’ says Takuya Oura of Manalo & White. ‘The result of our collaboration is a robust building with a natural material palette, where they can freely mess around and stretch their imagination.’
Raw, honest materials like natural stone, sanded lime plaster, concrete and galvanised metal results in a calming aesthetic that retains a sense of place and history and will patinate over time. Warm lighting and soft acoustics create a relaxing ambience – the new steel-frame mezzanine and raw concrete floor lend further acoustic separation. The addition of low-height furniture invites relaxation. And excavating the undercroft below the raised main floor created a new, level entrance, improving access and eliminating the stigma attached to wheelchair ramps.
The architects reinstated the site’s previously closed main entrance for pedestrian and vehicular access, and introduced a meandering path to the building through the reinvigorated woodland. Interventions in the existing plant beds and orchard have brought new, native species and enhance biodiversity in the area.
