Corby Cube

• Theatre ID
  3667
• Built / Converted
  2010
• Dates of use
  • 2010: continuing.
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  Arts Centre (Theatre, library and civic centre)
• Address
  George Street, Corby, Northamptonshire, NN17 1QG, England
• Websites
  • Corby Cube
  • The Core at Corby Cube

Details

An international competition was held in 2005 to create a new civic hub and arts centre for Corby - to replace the popular but ailing Festival Hall Complex on an adjacent site, as part of a wider regeneration of Corby Town Centre. Hawkins Brown won the competition, creating a design that wraps the civic services around the theatre. The project cost £40m, and officially opened in November 2010. As well as theatre facilities, the building includes a 'one-stop shop' for council services, library, civic suite, council chamber, rooftop gardens, caféand a restaurant. Externally the building is - as the name suggests - a cube, created in stripes of dark and mirrored glass. The main theatre, named The Core, is at the heart of the complex, seating 445 in a horseshoe curve of three tiers. The retractable seating system enables the theatre to transform to a flat-floored space with a capacity of 700, giving the auditorium required flexibility. Furnished in warm red with walnut-panelled walls and a proscenium stage, the auditorium has a traditional feel to it, whilst providing twenty-first century facilities. A stage lift allows the floor to move upwards for a forestage, or lower to create an orchestra pit. The proscenium arch is constructed of flown header and two moveable side pieces that allow the arch to be reduced for more intimate dramas, opened up for musical theatre productions, or removed entirely for flat floor events. There are two other performance spaces in The Cube - The Lab, a 60-90 seat studio space, and The Base. Before opening, Corby Cube had become runner-up in the 2007 LEAF Awards for the Best Public Building Design of the Year (second to the Beijing Olympic Swimming Pool) and won a Regeneration Project Award in the 2010 Government Business Awards. Since opening it has won a 2011 RICS East Midlands Regeneration Award, all showing that as part of the town's regeneration project, culture has proved to be a very successful heart.

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• Events
  • 2010 Design/Construction: Civic hub incorporating theatre, library and council chamber.
    • Charcoalblue - Theatre
    • HawkinsBrown - Architect
  • 2010 Use: continuing.
• Capacities
  • Current: 445; The Core
  • Current: 60-90; The Lab