THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE SPACE
Pitlochry Festival Theatre - worked on the project during final design and construction, involved in operational space planning and acoustic treatment of the performance spaces. Budapest Opera - a conceptual project to replace the city's summer opera house that used a cinema with a new purpose-designed opera house, hotel and shopping centre in a city park. Royal Opera House Muscat -was won in an international design competition. Made the short-list after designing and completing the Emirates Palace in UAE, which contained a good sized theatre. The ambitious competition brief set by the theatre consultants had at its heart an adaptable auditorium that could transform the opera house to a concert hall with a large moving stage and proscenium. The challenge was to make this technology work in a building that would sound perfect as a natural acoustic chamber and have a particular iconic look. The acoustic chamber was designed to be adaptable through changeable volumes and absorption. The planning was influenced by the work of architect Louis Kahn which Tom had studied at university. The look was heavily influenced by the style of modern Omani state buildings, and iconic look of the Lincoln Centre NYC . The interior finishes were heavily influence by the Royal Court Affairs in Oman and introducing their talented interior designer Mohamed Jal on the design team. The urban setting was influenced by work on the Emirates Palace which gives the building a certain grandeur and status on arrival.