Architecture studio Witherford Watson Mann, RIBA Stirling prize-winners, has designed an opera theatre in the 17th-century stable yard of a stately home. Grade II listed, the building is in Leicestershire (England) and owned by the co-founder of Carphone, David Ross.

The new theatre required a sustainable house lighting system of the highest quality, whose fixtures would blend sympathetically with the beautifully conceived, unusual, wood and stone interior. GDS were working on the house lighting scheme for the theatre and Santa & Cole custom Cirio became the centre piece of the auditorium. The porcelain lampshades were supplied in a custom colour to match the tones of the wooden interior and each Cirio LED capsule is individually DMX controlled to create an integrated performance related to the shape of the balcony.

The Nevill Holt Opera Theatre has been described by The Times as “arguably the best little Opera house in the country to date” and by The Telegraph as “an indisputable triumph”.


Architecture: Witherford Watson Mann

Photography: Hélène Binet