The Point

Client

The Point, Eastleigh

Year

2020

Cost

£85,000

Collaborators

Lozi, Howard Eaton Lighting Ltd

Renovation of a studio performance space at The Point in Eastleigh.  We designed bespoke lighting panels and collaborated with a furniture maker to manufacture all of the seating, as well as carrying out a full technical systems overhaul and leading on interior design.

When we were approached by The Point in Eastleigh to give their hard-working studio theatre space some much-needed love, we immediately knew we didn’t want to use a conventional theatre seat.

In a typical day the space might be used by a youth theatre workshop, a baby massage class and then a professional comedian in the evening, so we set out to create a versatile seating unit which would be lightweight, easy for one person to move and extremely robust. With no storage space available, it was also imperative the benches could stay in the room and always stay useful and active, even when the floor needed to be cleared.

Designed as two complimentary bench types, one with a back and one without, the Studio Bench is a unique and practical solution to multi-use programming. Both benches can be moved quickly and easily by a single person. The lower bench without a back is designed to slide underneath the higher bench so they can both be pushed to the edge of the room and stay active, rather than wasting space as a stacked pile. The lower unit is also the perfect height to seat young people or for toddlers to use as a table, and the varied leg colours bring warmth into the space and tie into the colour palette of the branded identity of the space.

One of the joys of this project has been the organic development of an ongoing relationship with the client and the users of this space, and when the building reopens post Covid-19 we are hoping to return to lead community workshops where we will design and paint murals on the empty wall canvases.

"They have brought a wonderful creativity to the project whilst maintaining a realistic eye on the budget! What sets them apart is their combination of artistry and creativity, matched with a detailed understanding of the architectural, technical elements of a project."

Sacha Lee, Artistic Director, The Point