| Architect |
Foster +
Partners |
| Date
Built |
Opened 2004 |
| Location |
On the south
bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead |
| Description |
|
| Foster +
Partners describe the Sage as, "one of the city's great social
spaces as well as a regional music centre
of international standing."
The Sage is actually three separate
buildings each home to a performance or
practice spaces and heavily insulated one
from the other. Around these buildings
is a glass and stainless steel carapace that
not only protects visitors from the winds
blowing off the Tyne but provides a common
concourse for all three spaces. It is
made up of 3,000 steel panels and 250 glass
panels. The glass sections of the
outer skin offer those inside a dramatic
view of the city of Newcastle and,
especially at night, a colourful view of the
inside to passers-by. Foster says of the Sage that it, " ... provides three auditoria and accommodation for the Regional Music School and also acts as a base for the Northern Sinfonia and Folkworks, which promotes folk, jazz and blues performances. The largest of the three main performance spaces is acoustically state-of-the-art and seats up to 1,650 people. The second hall caters for folk, jazz and chamber music, with an informal and flexible seating arrangement for up to 400 people. The third space is a large rehearsal hall for the Northern Sinfonia and also forms the focus of the Music School." The Sage's website sums up the building this way, "The Sage Gateshead has already become a new landmark on Tyneside, forming the heart of an exciting project to regenerate the area’s river frontage. The site is adjacent to the Stirling Prize-winning Gateshead Millennium Bridge and the Tyne Bridge, with its great arch echoed in the shell-like form of The Sage Gateshead’s roof." |
|
|
Sage,
Gateshead
             |
