Arts & Culture \ Galeri Creative Enterprise Centre, Caernarfon, North Wales

The Galeri Creative Enterprise Centre in Caernarfon is a project which has arisen from the resurgence of this area of North Wales in the creative industries, together with a perception of a need for a contemporary, flexible and medium sized performance space in the town. The building is effectively a hybrid between theatre / rehearsal spaces and small office spaces aimed at young creative companies. The essence of the idea is that whilst theatres generally spring to life in the evenings, the office side of the building is a daytime activity, and that putting these two functions together, both of which involve creative people, will ensure a building that has an intensity of use all day and evening. At the heart of the building must be the idea of communication between those working in the building, both amongst themselves and between themselves and visitors. There could be a great deal of communication between members of the public and the activities of the various offices.

The diagram of the building, inspired by its location on the dock, is to make a warehouse-like construction of three parallel sheds, an inner shed containing the large volumes, requiring large span structures, flanked on either side by small or more domestic scaled structural sheds of individual rooms. The inner shed, which has theatre at its east end and rehearsal rooms at its west end, then contains within it a large atrium foyer space within which is found all the circulation. The objective of the design has been to attempt to ensure that as many office spaces as possible on the first and second floors give directly onto walkways in this atrium space so that their activities and their presence is visible from everybody entering the building. The idea of this space is further strengthened with the presence of both theatre on one side and the rehearsal room on the other side as curved objects inserted into the warehouse shape of the building.

The exterior of the building is largely formed of a steel frame and green oak boarding. This forms a natural weathered grey patina over the years and acts as a rain screen to the building. External walkways are formed of galvanised steel, with perforated lightweight metal decks, with the exterior wall adjacent to the entrance formed of board-marked concrete. Windows are generally aluminium or steel. The interior of the building is filled with colour as a contrast to the relatively monochrome exterior.

Construction of the project was completed in January 2005.

Our continuing good relationship with the Galeri has brought us back to the project on two occasions now to assist in their efforts to sustain that economic impact and extend and alter the buildings facilities to keep pace with changing demand. Previously we extended and modified the theatre space to provide facilities for performers and additional backstage functionality. Latterly, following an ACW funded feasibility study in 2014, our latest project separates the cinema function from the existing main auditorium space and provides 2 dedicated film theatres within a new extension building. In doing so, the main theatre no longer requires constant adaption and reconfiguration to cinema mode whilst the two new smaller auditoria are also capable of small scale lecture and performance uses.
Connecting through to the existing building circulation on all three levels, the form of the extension also continues the warehouse like appearance of the existing centre with a series of parallel, pitched roof volumes separated by a rectilinear plantroom. Locating the cinemas on first floor allows the ground floor to provide a new entrance and double height foyer space that addresses the three-sided external courtyard formed between the Galeri, the cinema extension and the historic Goleuad dockside building. Materially, the extension is clad in a robust, standing seam zinc sheet to the walls and roof, emphasising the volumes of the cinemas spaces within, with large areas of glazing to the gabled courtyard elevation and ground floor.  The extension was completed August 2018.

Details of the  extension can be seen at the end of the thumbnail images.

For the extension: