Cultural and entertainment

Manchester’s multi-award winning Imperial War Museum North is an inspiring fusion between the power of the architectural vision conceived by Studio Daniel Libeskind and the ingenuity of our engineering solutionsFrom cinemas to concert halls, museums to libraries, theme parks to television studios – buildings in the cultural and entertainment arena have their own particular demands. Having great social significance they present design challenges to match. For private sector develop-ments it’s especially important that the design is pitched carefully to match competition in the marketplace.

In all cases, controlling initial capital cost as well as running costs is fundamental, especially as such facilities tend to be services intensive with significant demands on mechanical and electrical systems – particularly where food and beverages are being prepared.

The wide variety of requirements for cultural and entertainment projects calls for equally broad experience – which Mott MacDonald can demonstrate through an award-winning portfolio as diverse as Magna, the UK’s first science adventure centre, and the International Centre for Life in Newcastle.

Our specialist façade team is able to design innovative systems for curtain walls, atrium spaces and skylight structures. In addition we have successfully developed sophisticated computer models to help design natural and artificial lighting and assist in fire safety engineering, predicting smoke and fire behaviour in a building.

At Mott MacDonald we’re actively promoting sustainable development in all we do and have extensive experience in natural and mixed-mode ventilation, daylighting and photovoltaics.