The Old Vic Theatre in London has completed its first expansion in over 200 years with the unveiling of a new six-story extension designed by acclaimed architecture firm Haworth Tompkins. The historic theater, originally built in 1816 and located at the prominent intersection of Waterloo Road, the Cut, and Bayliss Road, has transformed a former pub it purchased in 2015 into a modern, sustainable annexe that serves both the local community and the theater's operational needs.
Haworth Tompkins, appointed to the project in November 2019, designed the new building to function as both a community destination and an expansion of the theater's working and engagement spaces. The six-story structure houses an impressive array of facilities, including a triple-height café and bar, a script library, a dedicated writers' room, a new green room, the Clore Learning Centre, and an events space complete with a terrace. The architectural firm also converted the existing rehearsal room into a flexible studio space while completely remodeling the back-of-house areas.
The renovation has achieved a historic milestone by creating the theater's first fully accessible stage door in its 200-year history, along with upgraded dressing rooms, staff offices, modern restrooms, showers, and bicycle storage facilities. The ground-floor café and bar spans the first two levels, featuring an interior composed of interconnected volumes designed to function as a public living room for the community.
Sustainability stands at the core of the project's design philosophy, with the building prioritizing recycled and low-carbon materials throughout its construction. The structural frame consists primarily of European spruce glulam timber, while the floors are made of solid timber – all engineered specifically for disassembly and reuse at the end of the building's lifecycle. The project extensively incorporates recycled materials, including salvaged brickwork from the former pub and a façade brise soleil crafted from repurposed theater barn-door lighting equipment donated by cultural institutions connected to the Old Vic.
The building's environmental features extend to its operational systems, which include natural ventilation, air-source heat pumps, and passive cooling strategies designed to significantly reduce energy demand. The natural ventilation system works by drawing air through the stairwell and cooling it via the staircase's thermal mass, with the cooled air flowing into lower areas and exiting through distinctive red solar chimneys visible at roof level.
Lucy Picardo, director at Haworth Tompkins, emphasized the project's comprehensive approach to sustainability, stating that the design "considers the entire lifecycle of materials, from raw material acquisition to waste management, to minimize environmental impact, conserve resources and ensure future use." The firm explored several iterations for the recycled brise-soleil content, ranging from old London buses to theater bar waste, ultimately selecting the barn door lights because they repurpose end-of-life theater equipment while capturing the cultural impact the Old Vic has made over its two-century history.
The Stirling Prize-winning practice brings significant experience to the project, having previously completed the renovation of the nearby Young Vic theatre in 2006. The Old Vic extension project began construction in October 2023 and reached completion in August 2025, with a total construction cost of £13.7 million and a gross internal floor area of 1,785 square meters.
The project involved collaboration with numerous specialists, including Momentum as structural engineer, Skelly & Couch as mechanical and electrical consultant, Aecom as quantity surveyor, and Rise Contracts as the main contractor. Additional consultants included Charcoalblue for acoustic and theater consulting, BDP Lighting for lighting design, Vin Goodwin for accessibility consulting, and Eckersley O'Callaghan for façade engineering.
The building's innovative timber connection details represent cutting-edge glulam frame technology, enabling the exposed frame to meet stringent modern fire safety standards while maintaining the structure's sustainability goals. The outward-facing elevation prominently displays the building's commitment to sustainability through its creative reuse of reclaimed materials, with the colorful and playful brise soleil created from locally sourced redundant theater barn door lights positioned in front of fixed curtain wall glazing.
This landmark project establishes the Old Vic's extension as an exemplar in accessibility, sustainability, and community engagement, designed to serve artists, audiences, and the local community for generations to come. The successful integration of historic preservation with modern sustainable design practices demonstrates how cultural institutions can expand while maintaining their commitment to environmental responsibility and inclusive access.
