Shetland Mareel Cinema and Music Venue, Scotland, UK

Sitting on the edge of the historic hay’s Dock in Lerwich, overlooking the Bressay Sound, the venue includes a multi-use auditorium, two cinema screens, a recording studio, rehearsal rooms, creative industry spaces, a teaching room that can be used for cinema projection, offices and a café/bar. The architectural response reflects the tradition of simple, robust forms, typical in such exposed locations, and echoes the materiality of the fishing industry buildings located along the waterfront. Two large ‘cuts’ in the external aluminium skin wrapping around the building, create a protected entrance to the main foyer and a window to the café/bar allowing views out across Hay’s Dock. Internally, timber linings bring warmth to the public spaces and contrast with the external feel of the building. The acoustic design involved the envelope sound insulation to control external noise ingress. Particular attention was given to the noise from the boats’ horn passing by in the vicinity of the building. In addition, the internal sound insulation has been designed to facilitate the simultaneous use of the spaces, for speech and music and to maintain privacy. The room acoustics within the spaces was essential to allow for the different type of activities, in light of the various end use of the spaces. Building services noise control has also been essential in the project to ensure the achievement of the background noise within each room to maintain the level of privacy established for the space as well as the level of noise at the façade of the nearest receptors to be within environmental limits.