Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and Globe Foyers

The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is an archetypal Jacobean indoor theatre based on two 17th century drawings by architect John Webb. Designed to fit within an existing 1990s masonry envelope, the intimate 340-seat auditorium is built in green oak and exclusively candlelit. This project also entailed remodelling the Globe's foyers, creating a new cafe and transforming the public spaces that allow Shakespeare's Globe to cater not just for theatre audiences but school groups, teachers, researchers, actors and directors, all alongside the one million general public visiting the site each year. The scheme addressed significant practical issues such as crowd flow and wayfinding but also, aesthetically, is more reflective of the organsiation today.