Fire Station Auditorium, Sunderland

2024 RIBA North East Award
2024 RIBA North East Client of the Year MAC Trust

Fire Station Auditorium, Sunderland
Flanagan Lawrence Architects with delivery architect Howarth Litchfield for MAC Trust
Contract value: £10.5m
GIA: 1800m²
Cost per m²: £5,800

Sitting at the centre of Sunderland’s masterplan for the Music, Arts and Culture Quarter, the Fire Station Auditorium provides a fantastic flexible events venue for all music genres as well as dance and theatre. It is scaled to meet Sunderland Music, Arts & Culture (MAC) Trust’s challenging brief to accommodate audiences of 500 people seated to 800 standing. The Auditorium sits comfortably next to the Edwardian fire station, with the use of red brick and terracotta sympathetic to the surrounding heritage buildings. The MAC Trust, together with the architects’ design expertise, has been successful in creating a new arts destination with a compelling social focus at the heart of the city.

Located in a conservation area and surrounded by the Edwardian architecture of the quarter, the Fire Station Auditorium is a calm addition to the site. The strong horizon of the southern elevation to the public square ties gently into the adjacent fire station facade, with the Auditorium signage acting as a fun contemporary cornice.

Sympathetic material choices are evident in the locally sourced red brick and densely spaced terracotta brise-soleil (sun-shading louvres), matching the colour and tone of the existing fire station. The overall effect is of a solid red block carved out to form entrances and window apertures. The largest carving at the rear is for an external performance stage, allowing indoor and outdoor events to occur simultaneously.

Internally every material, such as the stained plywood acoustic panelling, is working hard to meet the acoustic requirements and robustness needed to host large events daily. After over a year in use, the design’s visual impact is holding strong thanks to Flanagan Lawrence’s and the delivery architects Howarth Litchfield’s attention to detail. 

Flanagan Lawrence has provided a rigorous plan with functionality at its core. Accessibility was a clear focus for the end-user experience, with level access provided to all entrances and a clear sectional diagram placing the stage and foyer at the same level, ensuring simple circulation throughout. Furthermore, key auditorium facilities including escape stairs, lifts and box office are shared with the existing fire station next door. This rationalisation provided a sustainable response to the brief, reducing the area of new building needed while further emphasising the Auditorium as part of the wider cultural masterplan for the area.

The auditorium provides practical flexibility, spatially and acoustically. The stage and seating areas can be reconfigured quickly via rolling flooring and stage lifts, and the acoustic panelling rotated to support a range of events, from heavy metal to orchestral. The success of the inbuilt flexibility has enabled the MAC Trust to offer the facilities to the University and local schools between performances, widening the community outreach of the venue.

The commitment shown by the MAC Trust to the cultural regeneration of Sunderland is commendable, successfully facilitating this positive addition to the city. The Fire Station Auditorium is a taster of the Trust’s wider ambitions for the area.

See the rest of the RIBA North East winners here. And all the RIBA Regional Awards here.

To see the whole RIBA Awards process visit architecture.com.

RIBA Regional Awards 2024 sponsored by EH Smith and Autodesk