Hoskins Architects were commissioned to design a permanent home for the National Theatre of Scotland which will bring together various departments currently scattered across several buildings. In keeping with the company’s guiding concept of being a ‘theatre without walls,’ this new home will not host public performances but is envisaged as being a creative factory for the company which will facilitate their expansion nationally and internationally.

This redevelopment of a disused industrial warehouse on the banks of the Forth & Clyde Canal will provide three rehearsal rooms of varying scales, a Learning and Community suite, wardrobe department, production workshop & technical store, office space and social areas.

The building will be clad in a sinusoidal metal cladding, arranged in four horizontal bands, to produce a composed and calm façade that maintains an industrial aesthetic in keeping with the history of the site and the vision of a “creative factory”. Use of a limited palette of materials internally with an exposed steel structure continues the ‘raw’ aesthetic while meeting the performance requirements of a modern theatre company.