The Regent Theatre in Melbourne, Australia was designed by Cedric Ballantyne and built by James Porter & Sons.
Completed in 1929, it was part of a franchise of some of the most lavish and largest theatre cinemas in Australia.
And it demonstrated the city’s early adoption of arts, popular culture, and entertainment.
The building’s style is a combination of Spanish Gothic and French Renaissance, with the plaza ballroom adopting the Spanish Baroque and medieval styles.
And despite a fire, rebuilding, and a long period of closure, its future looks better than ever thanks to a fresh design by Lovell Chen.
The Lovell Chen design team’s project objective was to sustain its future as a working venue for international-standard live theatre.
To that end, they focused their attention on its vast auditorium and extraordinary interiors.
Through replanning and structural alterations in the auditorium, operational flexibility and increased intimacy were achieved with only a little visible impact on the highly decorated space.
The most spectacular intervention is the extension of the full-width Dress Circle balcony 3.7m toward the stage.
This was a remarkable feat of engineering ingenuity by Irwinconsult (WSP Group) which included a construction method that allowed the Plaza Ballroom below to remain operating.
The stalls area was re-raked for better sightlines, new seating was installed in revised configurations, and two bars opened up in the auditorium at the rear of the stalls.
The Lovell Chen design has helped secure the venue’s continued legacy in Melbourne’s cultural story.
Project Details
Completion Date – 2019
Project Team
Architects and Heritage Consultants
Lovell Chen
Lovell Chen is a multi-disciplinary practice with more than 40 years of experience in architecture and heritage. Peter Lovell, Milica Tumbas, Iulia Danila, and Tina Tamwere were responsible for the delivery of this project’s design.
Structural Engineers
WSP Group
WSP believes believe that for societies to thrive, we must all hold ourselves accountable for tomorrow.
Photography
Michael Gazzola
Michael Gazzola is an experienced professional photographer of architecture, based in the heart of Fitzroy, Melbourne.
Peter Glenane
Drawing on 20 years of experience, Peter has developed a well-defined, collaborative approach to photographing architecture and construction projects.
Photo Gallery
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.
Design © 2022 Lovell Chen. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2022 Michael Gazzola and Peter Glenane. All Rights Reserved.
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