Above and below is a multipurpose
complex sited on numbers 14, 12 and 4 Arney Street. It provides the Newtown
community with three cinema spaces (two 46 seaters and one 106 seater), a large
bar space which can be split into two different areas when needed, a
performance venue that can easily support musical acts and other larger events,
a café space, gallery space, two conference/office spaces and a public seating
and outdoor area.
The main design drivers for Above
and Below were “clarity” and “connection”. This essentially meant providing a distinct
connection between the two adjacent streets to the site, Arney and Ferguson.
Ferguson being located 4 metres above the Arney street level provided the
opportunity to create a large set of stairs which would be for general public
use making a clear and creative link between the two previously unconnected
streets. This connection between the two streets was then used in the design of
the building itself creating a “void of circulation” that cut a distinct path
through the building. The verticality of this void space was emphasized to make
it a distinct area of circulation utilising stairs and ramps to connect other
parts of the building. The void of this space was extremely important as it
would allow for a visual connection between Arney and Ferguson Streets which
would encourage public use of the stairs and also the complex itself.
To cater for all ages and
disabilities a ramp was incorporated into the design in a similar way the
circulation void was. The ramp runs through the main bulk of the building
becoming a defining threshold for the spaces either side of it. This combination
of stairs and ramp split the building form into three distinct areas, both in
the horizontal plane and the vertical plane.
Movement through the Above and
Below complex is defined in three different modes, the stairs which sit at 35
degrees, the six degree ramp and the vertical/90 degree lifts which are also
provided in the building. These three modes are reflected in the overall
structure of the design. The structural from which creates the building shell
is comprised of components angled at 90, 35 and 6 degrees. These structural
forms also created two dinstinctly different facades for the building which
mirror the programmes around them well. The Arney street façade opens out and
up to street at a grand scale pointing out towards the commercial area of
Newtown and the typically busy Riddiford Road. On the Ferguson street side
amongst more residential buildings the façade is at a much more human and
subtle scale before the structural forms shoot out towards Arney Street.
