Nevill Holt Opera completes to a design by WWM

In the grounds of Nevill Holt Hall in Leicestershire, UK, WWM has designed an opera theatre in a 17th-century stable yard. Set design is by Simon Kenny.

(Image credit: Gary Summers)

By Clare Dowdy

last updated 24 August 2022

in Features

RIBA Stirling Prize-winners Witherford Watson Mann have created a 400-seat opera theatre in a 17th-century stable yard. The project sits in the grounds of Nevill Holt Hall, a vast stately home in the Leicestershire countryside owned by David Ross, the co-founder of Carphone Warehouse.

Since its inception in 2013, Nevill Holt Opera festival has been operating out of a tent-like structure within the Grade II* listed stable yard. Now, the black tarpaulin has been replaced by Douglas Fir. Chris Watson of WWM – the firm behind the refurbishment of The Albany in south London – says the challenge was ‘to keep as much of the character of the stable yard as possible’.

He did this through a sensitively-chosen palette of materials: timber for the walls and roof, and cast concrete imprinted with timber planks on the floor. He rested the new walls on the existing orange ironstone walls, ‘to extend the volume up, which gives clarity to the singers’ voices’. And by making the balcony 3.5m high, rather than the usual 2.5m, details of the old walls are visible behind. Rather than fixing the balcony to the walls, WWM left a gap and supported it around the perimeter on slender columns of steel hand-painted a penny bronze colour.

Meanwhile, a roof light ‘washes the stone walls with natural light’ until the performance begins, when a horizontal blind is drawn. Acoustician Anne Minors of Sound Space Vision worked on the theatre’s sound quality. ‘The curved balcony disperses the sound, the stone’s solid mass reflects frequencies, and the timber gives a warm timbre,’ she explains.

In the tradition of all English country house opera festivals, visitors can explore the gardens – designed by Rupert Golby – before the performance and during the 90-minute interval. They are likely to run up against modern sculptures, including Allen Jones’ 2014 Dancers, Barry Flanagan’s 1989 Nijinsky Hare, and a Marc Quinn from 2012.

seats with the wooden fence from a new angle

INFORMATION

For more information visit the WWM website

Clare Dowdy is a London-based freelance design and architecture journalist who has written for titles including Wallpaper*, BBC, Monocle and the Financial Times. She’s the author of ‘Made In London: From Workshops to Factories’ and co-author of ‘Made in Ibiza: A Journey into the Creative Heart of the White Island’.