Arts & Culture

Buschow Henley is committed to providing accessible and enjoyable buildings and spaces in the public arena. We are interested in working with communities to develop unique solutions which respond equally to function and place.

Prior to undertaking our 1995 feasibility for charity L’Ouverture to develop a mobile teaching theatre, the directors spent time in the classroom developing ideas about learning directly with the pupils and teachers. Although the project remains unbuilt, it led to a commission to design a permanent base at Trinity Buoy Wharf, on the north bank of the Thames overlooking the Dome.

Our IPPR Designs on Democracy competition scheme for Letchworth Town Hall (2003), drew a distinction between the space of democracy and the place of bureaucracy charging the public spaces with meaning. Designs included a new multi-purpose council chamber and library surrounded by ‘market stall’ pitches for each ward.

Our competition-winning scheme for a Performing Arts Building at Caldicott School in South Buckinghamshire accommodates a new performance space together with several additional teaching spaces and forms a new quad- both the latter and the building have become new symbols for the school. It has been widely published in The London Evening Standard, the RIBA Journal and the inaugural issue of School Buildings.

Most recently, we were selected in competition to develop a new £1.3 million Arts & Civic Centre in Goole, Yorkshire. The scheme seeks to forge links between the arts and commerce, and between the high street and a recently completed shopping centre. In so doing the Arts & Civic Centre should tap into the everyday life of Goole and become an integral part of its culture and identity.