Summary: Architecture, Art and Psychoanalysis. A four part podcast recorded by Paul Mitchell at the Anna Freud Centre on Saturday 14th July 2012. This conference brought together practitioners and theorists from different fields to think about the emotional experience of architecture and architectural spaces. In home, theatre, church, museum, or transformations of space in contemporary art, architecture and mental space interact in ways that indicate the role of unconscious process in the built environment. Part 2: Dramatic Architecture: The design of Hampstead and Royal Shakespeare Theatres Rab Bennetts ABSTRACT Rab Bennetts’ examined the lengthy gestation of the Hampstead Theatre project and the way in which the architect’s role extended from urban planning to detailed design, resulting in a compact theatre that has been praised by audiences and actors alike. Rab will then describe how this led to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon, working on a brief to transform a listed but flawed existing building. In particular, the acclaimed 1000-seat auditorium was to be “something that Shakespeare might recognise”. Whilst the two theatres are very different, they emerged from the same craft-like, collaborative design process. The paper highlights the conflict between iconic (ie; dramatic) architecture and the architecture of theatres that accentuates the drama – before, during and after the performance. Rab Bennetts is the Director of Bennetts Associates Architects which he founded with his wife Denise in 1987. The firm, based in London and Edinburgh, has been responsible for many pioneering projects such as the PowerGen Headquarters, Wessex Water Operations Centre, Hampstead Theatre, Edinburgh University’s Informatics Forum, Jubilee Library in Brighton and the New Street Square development in the City of London. Recent notable commissions include the £100 million transformation of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Humanities Faculties and Library for Oxford University and hotels in London and Amsterdam. The firm is also particularly well known for its work on environmental sustainability. The practice has won more than 120 awards and has been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize several times. The firm won the UK Architect of the Year award in 2006 and 2011. Rab leads the design direction of Bennetts Associates and is personally involved in many of the firm’s projects. He is also extensively involved in outside bodies and is a Board member of the UK Green Building Council, a Director of Sadler’s Wells Theatre and a Trustee of the Design Council. He has in the past chaired the RIBA’s Competitions Committee, advised the Government on sustainability policy and sat on Islington’s Planning Committee as an expert adviser. He has lectured extensively and has contributed to numerous publications and conferences. Rab was awarded the OBE for services to architecture in 2003 and Sustainability Leader of the Year in 2009 at the Building/UK-GBC Sustainability Awards.
