22
PROJECT REPORT: CULTURAL, CIVIC & FAITH BUILDINGS
“It enabled us to rethink the typology and create a new offer that could disrupt the market”
Jason Lebidineuse, Scott Brownrigg
and build on the UK’s global reputation for content production,” said the architect. The search wasn’t entirely easy; Lebidineuse explains that sites of the scale they were looking for are limited near London, their focus therefore was on the area around the M25, where there is already an established hub of fi lm studios. Their search was narrowed to two potential sites, before they settled on a piece of land that bordered the M4. In particular the land offered two key benefi ts – it had existing planning approval for a (partially constructed) science park, and it was owned by the University of Reading, bringing inherent links to the university. The media courses on offer meant it “could therefore become a source of new talent for the new studios,” explains Lebidineuse. The practice had some experience in the media sector, beginning in the 1960s when it designed the now Grade II Listed Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford. It has since designed facilities for organisations such as the BBC and Thomson Reuters, but this
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
was to be “our fi rst foray into designing new build fi lm studios,” Lebidineuse says. He continues, however: “This was a natural step for us, given our ability to draw upon our expertise in a wide range of sectors, which includes providing bespoke technical building solutions for advanced technologies and life sciences.” As well as it seeming a natural progression for the practice, Scott Brownrigg was also enticed by the “unique” opportunity presented by the fact it was to be the fi rst completely new fi lm studio complex in the country. “It enabled us to rethink the typology and create a new offer that could disrupt the market,” explains Lebidineuse.
Flexible & functional
The practical side of the brief was to create a complex that would be large enough to accommodate up to three large-scale productions at one time, “to enable the continuous generation of new content,” says Lebidineuse. This also fed into the search
ADF JULY/AUGUST 2025
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
