Royal Festival Hall
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View from Hungerford Bridge
Galwey Arphot Download Original
Modernist theatre on the London Southbank commissioned for the 1951 Festival of Britain
The building accommodates a 3,000 seat auditorium, primarily for orchestras and choirs, a smaller hall for chamber music and recitals and musicians accommodation.
Large foyers, refreshment bars, meeting rooms and restaurant surround the central auditorium. All these elements are planned in such a way that each element can be used separately or in combination.
The majority of the structure is reinforced concrete with the auditorium being carried on a series of circular reinforced concrete columns and the circulation and ancillary spaces planned around them.
The curved concrete roof is clad in copper and and supported on transverse steel girders. In contrast to the solidity of the central mass the surrounding structure is comparatively light and transparent with swathes of glass running the length of the building.
Externally Portland stone and coloured tiles are used while the internal palette are finished with clear, bright colours, marble, glass and polished wood.
Data
- Begun: 1948
- Completed: 1951
- Sectors: Arts and culture, Public realm
- Total cost: £2M
- Address: Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Rd, London, SE1 8XX, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: LCC Architects' Department
- Project architects: Leslie Martin, Peter Moro, Robert Matthew
- Client: London City Council
- Civil engineer: Scott and Wilson
- Quantity surveyor: Frank Falkner and Partners
- Acoustic consultant: Hope Bagenal
- Acoustic consultant: The Building Research Station
- Organ Consultant: Ralph Downes
- Main contractor: Holland & Hannen and Cubitts
Suppliers
- Copper roofing: Holloway Metal Roofs Ltd
- Plate and general glazing: Faulkner, Greene & Co
- Precast concrete roofing: Triad Floors Ltd
- Steel frame: Redpath Brown & Co