Snape Concert Hall and River View Cafe

A former maltings building of the mid-19th century built for Newson Garrett and converted to a concert hall with ancillary spaces in 1966-7 by Arup Associates, with engineering and acoustics by Ove Arup and Partners. Much of the work was carried out by Derek Sugden, assisted by Ron Marsh. Max Fordham worked on the services and assisted with the acoustics. The contractors were Freddie Corke and Bill Muttitt of William C Reade of Aldeburgh. The concert hall foyer was extended by Purcell Miller Tritton and Partners in 1996-7, with further refurbishment and additions by Penoyre and Prasad in 1997-9.

The building is constructed of red brick with slate roof coverings and timber doors and windows. Timber weather-boarded roof ventilators sit above the galvanised steel roof truss structure. The roof is lined in Columbian pine boarding, also used for the doors. Local pamment tiles are used on the foyer floor.

The concert hall is rectangular in plan with the restaurant range running across the eastern end and extending slightly to the north.

In its fundamental form the concert hall resembles the former malthouse it once was. The brick walls are surmounted by a steeply-pitched roof with four evenly-spaced ventilators along the ridge. Wide guttering is supported on iron brackets. The northern elevation is characterised by a series of seventeen stepped and recessed segmental arches of varying width. The two easternmost have double-leaf timber plank doors inserted, followed to the west by four blind arches, a window inserted in the next, and then another three with double-leaf timber plank doors which serve as the main entrance into the concert hall. Except for one window, the remaining recesses are blind.

The western elevation shows the very steep pitch of the roof, with extended slopes on either side marking the foyer on the north and a corridor, offices and practice rooms on the south. A timber lucam protruding at first floor with an iron spiral staircase extending to the ground sits centrally on this elevation. Regularly-spaced brick piers divide the elevation with tie-rod plates at mid-height on each. The piers terminate at a stepped brick band which continues the width of the elevation and follows the roofline as it drops either side.

The southern elevation is mostly hidden behind later office and practice room extensions with glazing facing into the inner courtyard, formerly the grain turning gallery, to the south.

Historic photographs show the eastern elevation to have been of twelve bays, each marked by brick piers reaching to the original roof height and with no windows. In 1967, when Arup Associates converted the former grain cleaning building into a café with performers' facilities beneath, openings were punctured through. In 1999 Penoyre and Prasad raised the roof by 1.5 metres to create a new level and inserted a continuous window below the eaves and a glazed south gable with timber louvres. The building was also extended to the north. The original building is still legible in the current sixteen-bay, three-storey elevation with brick piers and tie-rod plates at first-floor height marking the original bays. Segmental-arched openings for all the windows replicate those used across the maltings complex. At ground-floor level these are single-light multi-glazed windows with flood-resistant locking mechanisms. On the first floor 20th-century sash windows have been used. An external stair provides access and escape to and from the café above. On the south gable, large sliding glazed timber doors, approached by two flights of steps, also provide access to the café.

The main entrance to the concert hall on the north elevation leads into the foyer added in 1996-7. The industrial aesthetic is maintained throughout with segmental-arched recesses, storage areas and openings running the length of the inner wall and mirroring those on the external elevation. The pamment-tiled floor also provides continuity with the older elements of the building. A shop has been included at the western end.

The internal foyer is entered through glazed timber doors and occupies space formerly used for the storage and dispatch of the malt around 1894. Here the scale of the building is clearly apparent and gives an air of occasion. The raising of the original maltings walls by two feet and the addition of piers along the length of the wall for reinforcement creates a series of segmental arches and a space of cathedral proportions. The use of undressed red brick and pamment tiles on the floor complements the original structure and retains the industrial aesthetic. The exposed timber rafters again complement the design of the building, with the rake of the roof emphasising the angle required to span from the height of the concert hall down to what would originally have been the single-storey height of the external elevation. At the eastern end of the foyer, steps rise to the café, and at the western end to the upper tiers of the concert hall.

Entering the concert hall, the heritage of the space is evident. The skeletal remains of the former maltings are visible in the form of a number of blocked openings in both the north and south walls and areas of staining indicating where walls have been removed or where industrial processes have left their mark. Narrow openings on the south wall through to a corridor and rear foyer contribute to the acoustics of the space. The stage is at the eastern end, including an orchestral pit with Gurjan hardwood stripped floors nailed to concrete with no air gap to reduce loss of acoustic quality. The front section seating can be raised or lowered to provide extra stage or orchestra facilities as required. The rear seats in the auditorium are raised on a removable raking floor over plant and switch rooms. The original timber seating, designed by the architects based on those at Bayreuth, have cane seats which impact little on the acoustics of the space. A dense cork floor beneath the seating also aids the acoustics. Timber doors either side of the stage provide access to the auditorium from the respective foyers. At the west end of the auditorium, the lighting control box sits behind a glazed screen within a timber cabin, a recreation of a lucam as found elsewhere around the maltings complex.

The open steel truss roof structure and exposed purlins rest on the four walls and are lined in Columbian pine boarding with four ventilators to house motorised dampers for the ventilation system.

On the south side of the concert hall, a corridor and foyer with limewashed brick walls and exposed timber roof provide access to both the upper floor and restaurant and to the performers' accommodation, dressing rooms and practice rooms at lower levels. The western end of the corridor also provides access to offices located along the south of the building and to others positioned in the former turning gallery which extends from the south-west corner of the building.

The eastern end of the complex is marked by the former grain cleaning building, now developed as a café and restaurant. The ground floor offers a series of rooms functioning variously as dressing rooms for performers, a laundry and as a kitchen to serve the café above. The café is over two floors. The first floor is an open-plan space, retaining the original wooden floor and with a bar along the western wall. The space is lit by a series of 20th-century timber sash windows regularly spaced along the length of the building. A large timber and glazed sliding door at the southern end leads to the external terrace, paths and the marshes. The second-floor café, added in 1999, occupies the space created by Penoyre and Prasad when they raised the walls by 1.5 metres and added a continuous window below the eaves. The coloured and exposed steel roof trusses, infilled with perforated timber panels, provide a light and airy space. The roof trusses are supported on the walls of the mid-19th-century building but also support the floor of the café. The floor ends around 50 centimetres from the external wall, leaving a clear view of the floor below and allowing the clerestory windows to shed light throughout the interior. The impression is of a floating floor supported periodically on brackets projecting from the roof trusses. The glazed south gable has external timber louvres to help maintain an ambient temperature internally.

The interconnectivity and flow around the various components of the concert hall and restaurant building is seamless.