Alexandra Palace Theatre picks up design awards ahead of opening night

The Heritage Lottery Funded refurbishment of the East Wing and Victorian Theatre at the 'People's Palace' is due to open in a matter of weeks with an intimate audience with artists Gilbert & George in conversation with writer Michael Bracewell.

In an exciting vote of confidence in the project, the Palace's borough council, Haringey, has announced the refurbishment of the theatre as Best Refurbishment and Overall Winner of its 2018 Haringey Design Awards. The award judges included the founding partner of Karakusevic Carson Architects, Paul Karakusevic; co-founder of Bell Phillips Architects, Hari Phillips and Josette Josseaud, a student at Haringey Sixth Form College.

"A sensitive and intelligent restoration of a theatre in north London, with a clever design strategy based on the concept of ‘arrested decay’," remarked the judges. "This has allowed a modest budget to bring a major performance space back to life. Light touch repair of the historic interior is combined successfully with new materials to create architectural poetry."

We'll have lots more from the project in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, check out the theatre's exciting programming over the coming months.