How Charcoalblue delivered the innovative Sadler's Wells East: ‘There isn't a dance venue like this’

Charcoalblue senior consultant Elina Pieridou, who was responsible for developing the seating layout and sightlines in the auditorium, says one of the biggest design challenges was ensuring that audience members could still see the dancers’ feet, despite what was a "fairly steep rake". She reveals that Charcoalblue did "lots of innovative work" with interactive 3D visualisation; creating virtual reality environments that enabled the architects and Sadler’s Wells team members to put on goggles and look around the proposed auditorium. 

Wardle says: "There isn’t a venue like this in the UK, specifically for dance. [Sadler’s Wells’ existing 1,500 seat venue in Islington], Rosebery Avenue, wasn’t designed as a contemporary dance venue."

He adds that Sadler’s Wells co-chief executives Alistair Spalding and Britannia Morton wanted a smaller venue where the sightlines worked for dance and for companies that might not sell 1,200 seats in a UK theatre. 

‘These studios will be the best in London, the best in the country’ Paul Halter, Charcoalblue senior consultant

"There’s a lot of really innovative work going on around Europe and in the US, where, if it comes to Rosebery Avenue, it might be half full as it doesn’t have the wider reputation here yet, and it’s not playing in the same kind of space it was created for: like the Rabozaal in Amsterdam, or the Schauspielhaus in Wuppertal, for instance. It’s brilliant work, it deserves to be seen in this country, and it’s got a very loyal audience, but it needs a different venue," Wardle continues. 

Although the capacity at Sadler’s Wells East is smaller, the stage is still the same size as Rosebery Avenue and has a powered flying system.

Senior consultant Paul Halter, who designed the stage engineering systems, says: "This is the first new large-scale power flying system that’s been installed in the UK for ages, perhaps since the Milton Court theatre for Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2013."  He continues: "A lot of European theatres have powered flying. In the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia, it’s expected. So, when you’re regularly bringing those companies over, they expect to have that and it’s often critical to the piece."   

Specialist engineer TAIT installed 63 variable speed winch bars for the automated flying system to Charcoalblue’s specification, achieving speeds of up to 1.8m/s and providing a high degree of flexibility for productions. A Navigator console running epiQ, TAIT’s state-of-the-art operating system, controls all installed overhead equipment and accommodates future expansion. Stage lighting and audiovisual systems were designed – again, to Charcoalblue’s specification – by LSI Projects, using ETC controls, dimming and houselights; and a Q-SYS paging system.
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The level of innovation evident in the retractable seating – built by Belgian specialist Jezet Seating – and fly tower facilities extends throughout the fabric of the building, in the most minute details. This includes seat numbers creatively burned into the wood, bespoke fabric on the seats and O’Donnell + Tuomey’s wind screens outside the building decorated with Laban notations.

It is this meticulous attention to detail that makes Sadler’s Wells East a leading example of modern theatre design, with Charcoalblue always keeping the experience of the artists, backstage workers and audiences in mind. This includes the installation of a window in the fly tower for the well-being of backstage crew who can spend hours on end there as well as rigging bars on the ceiling of the foyer for potential future events. 

Wardle says: "Most people at Charcoalblue come from theatre, and that really informs all the work we do because we understand what goes on in the theatre, whether it’s backstage, front-of-house or in the studios or dressing rooms." 

The sizing of the rehearsal studios – which are at least 10 x 11 metres, with the largest measuring 21 x 18 metres – was informed by visits to theatres in Europe with Sadler’s Wells and O’Donnell + Tuomey. Discussions with dancers and choreographers also meant that the studios were designed with different surfaces on the walls, to help dancers navigate their sequences.

"These studios will be the best in London, the best in the country," Halter says. 

Wardle adds: "Everyone is going to want to work here. And the thing is, it’s not just reserved for top choreographers. They’re going to run a hip-hop academy here. They’re going to do lots of engagement work, developing the choreographers and dancers of 10 years from now.

‘We wanted patrons to feel the energy and excitement before a performance, but for [the noise] not to be overbearing so you have to strain your voice to be heard’ Vangelis Koufoudakis, Charcoalblue senior consultant

Another significant element of the design process was the acoustics – with senior consultant Vangelis Koufoudakis describing the project as "very complicated acoustically". 

He says: "Acoustically, the first and number one priority was to structurally isolate the different parts of the building, to effectively mitigate any chance of vibration being transferred between the theatre and the studios.” This was achieved by introducing a structural gap on the perimeter of the dance theatre, and by decoupling the largest studio that sits on top of the theatre, meaning that the theatre and studios can be used simultaneously without noise and vibration transfer between them. 

Another acoustic challenge was to ensure that the spaces – especially the auditorium and foyer – felt lively without being overwhelmingly loud. 

Koufoudakis says: "We were having a drink [in the foyer] and Alistair [Spalding] turned to me and said: ’You know, we can actually have a conversation in this room.’ I responded: ’This was the plan all along.’

"If you have a big public space and it’s not dressed up properly with sound absorbent material, then it becomes too loud, as hotel lobbies or big restaurants often are. We wanted patrons to feel the energy and excitement before a performance, but for [the noise] not to be overbearing so you have to strain your voice to be heard."

All four senior consultants have seen the project develop over the course of a decade. Asked what their favourite thing about working on it was, both Pieridou and Wardle say it was the collaboration with Sadler’s Wells and O’Donnell + Tuomey.

Pieridou says: "We had a very solid relationship with the teams from the early stages of the design. I don’t have better words to describe the architects, they’re just wonderful. They’re good listeners. They understand that there are things that they don’t understand and things that they need to learn. And the same thing goes with us, it goes both ways."