The current project, for which fund raising continues, is the recently completed Performing Arts Centre on the site of the old changing rooms and squash courts located between the Marley Hall and the Sackville Theatre. The location of this building is outlined in red on the photograph below taken before demolition.
The Performing Arts Centre was handed over to the school by the contractors on Monday 19 April 2010 and was officially opened with an inaugural concert on Tuesday 27 April. To see photos of the build in progress please click here.
The new centre provides outstanding music and drama facilities for our students, a place for school assemblies and an excellent venue for alumni reunions. We hope that such a facility will encourage former students to return to attend concerts and drama productions and perhaps even take part in such events themselves.
The centre contains:
- The Pamoja Hall, an auditorium providing a world-class concert hall for choral and orchestral performances, with an audience capacity of nearly 450 on raked seating.
- A renovated Sackville Theatre, with a tension wire grid, providing improved space for larger drama productions.
- A recital room for more intimate chamber music performance with an audience capacity of about 100. It has lovely views into Knole deer park and provides a very nice venue for special events.
- The Ordovksy-Tanaevsky Drama Studio provides flexible space for drama productions and audience seating for up to 100.
- Seventeen individual sound-proofed teaching rooms, of which twelve to date have been sponsored by generous donors and bear their names.
- The Moskovenko Drums Room and Recording Studio.
- The Pisarev World Music Room for instruments from about the world, including a gamelan.
- Generous foyer space, close to an outdoor terrace provides additional space for teaching or hospitality use with spectacular views into the deer park.
- Extensive storage and locker space for musical instruments.
The stage of The Pamoja Hall can accommodate the school's seventy piece orchestra behind which the school choir can be positioned. The orientation of the hall uses the natural slope of the site to create the rake for the audience seating.
The foyer area links the three levels of the building and provides access to the practice and teaching rooms, the Moskovenko Drums Room and Recording Studio, other offices and support facilities. The Ordovsky-Tanaevsky Drama Studio is located close to the entrance to the renovated Sackville Theatre.
One can imagine an occasion when a concert is taking place in The Pamoja Hall with an audience of about 400 and a drama production in the Sackville Theatre with an audience of about 200 and they can come together in the interval time for refreshments in the foyer area.
The centre contains 2,733 square metres of useable space. The maximum height of the building is 20.5 metres. The project cost £13 million. Details of the professional team and floor plans can be downloaded from the pdfs below.
If you wish to know more about the building and how you can help fund raising, or if you are interested in a naming opportunity on a part of the building in return for a significant donation, please contact the Development Office at Sevenoaks School, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1HU.
Telephone: +44 (0) 1732 467708
Fax: +44(0) 1732 467708
Downloads