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.
Client:
Architecture:
Engineers:
Swale Borough Council
BBLUR architecture
King Shaw