Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts

Founded in London’s Crouch End in 1945 as amateur repertory company The Mountview Theatre Club, the organisation moved the following year to nearby Cecile House. Over the next seventy years the company expanded and in 1958 they began offering acting and technical skills training. Now the school prepares to begin a fresh chapter at a new, purpose-built home in Peckham.

Charcoalblue has been appointed as theatre and acoustics consultants for the development of the school’s new campus, designed by Carl Turner Architects. The brief is for a 200-seat theatre residing within an envelope of 19m x 17m of the building, to facilitate student productions with the ability to rent out the space commercially.

Musical theatre performances will be the primary use of the space followed by spoken word. A need for the theatre to work aesthetically, practically and acoustically has been a key consideration in the design. In determining the type of theatre that might be suitable for Mountview, design workshops and study tours were undertaken to envisage a sense of shape, size, flexibility and atmosphere for the auditorium.

As a result, the ambition for the theatre emerged to be a dynamic and adaptable performance space; one that is appropriate for students to learn in but also facilitate professional level performances.

The design will incorporate a high degree of flexibility for various formats and solutions to achieve ideal acoustic conditions given its neighbouring rehearsal studios.