Sittingbourne Cultural Centre is a new 5000sqm building with accommodation that includes library, performance and museum spaces supported by ancillary classrooms and meeting areas with a large public café.

 

This rich mix provides a community hub which enables the flexible use of spaces and a cross fertilisation between different uses.

 

Located off the main high street the plan and form make the entrance legible from a distance where a large cantilevered canopy provides a generous all weather square. 

The application of simple industrial building techniques devises a column free long span, creating flexible internal spaces in a cost effective way. 

 

The form picks up on the sculptural qualities of traditional Kent architecture using a green oak cladding which weathers to a soft grey colour. 

 

Wrapping is a key concept throughout the design, expressed in the external envelope and in the definition of internal spaces using a single highly coloured sinuous wall.