Lyceum Theatre

My aim when designing the windows was to attempt to convey the potential magic and excitement of the theatrical experience. Each window is designed to be a separate entity when viewed from the inside, yet will form a coherent whole when viewed externally. The designs are contemporary and accord with the architectural modernity of the new back-stage facilities.

The windows represent a cross-section of the theatre’s fly-tower, as if the curtain wall has been removed, and the internal machinations laid bare.

The top floor shows the steel grid and a castellated beam, beneath which lies the stage below. The vertical blue lines represent the steel wires from which the scenery is suspended. Each of the three lower windows illustrates an imaginary theatrical set, suspended above the stage, ready and waiting to be lowered into place at the appropriate scene. Each ascending scene becomes increasingly elaborate, and is intended to suggest an entrance into the theatre.

The musical notation, which appears on each floor, gives a vertical coherence to the work, and is an abstraction from the original score of Beethoven’s violin concerto

The 26 panels are made from “antique’ glass – new glass that has been hand-blown in the traditional (“antique”) manner. The glass was manufactured by Lamberts of Waldsassen, Germany, and approximately half has been made especially for this commission.

All the glass used has been opalised. A thin, milky surface layer has been laid on the base sheet and increases luminosity, especially at night. The coloured areas use “flashed” glass, whereby a thin coating of coloured glass has been layered (“flashed”) over the base sheet and the opalescence.

The designs have been etched onto the glass with hydrofluoric acid, which erodes the “flashed” coloured coating to reveal the base sheet underneath.

Commissioner: Sheffield Lyceum Theatre Trust Ltd

Address: Arundel Gate, Sheffield

Architects: Renton Howard Wood Levin Partnership (RHWL), London

Construction: Bovis Construction Ltd

Glass Supplier: Becker Glass, Hilden, Germany

Art Agent: Paul Swales, Public Arts, Sheffield