Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre

The Award-winning Theatre module is one of the most exciting architectural achievements in the country built within one of the Manchester's most prestigious historic buildings - the former Cotton Exchange and once the largest room for commerce in the world.

This is a seven-sided steel and glass module that squats within the Great Hall of the Manchester Royal Exchange. It is a pure theatre in the round in which the stage area is surrounded on all sides, and above, by seating.

The theatre can seat up to 700 people on three levels, making it the largest theatre in the round in Britain. There are 400 seats at ground level in a raked configuration, above which lie two galleries, each with 150 seats set in two rows.

As the floor of the Exchange would not be able to take the great weight of the theatre and its audience, the module is suspended from four massive columns that also carry the hall's central dome. Only the stage area and ground-level seating rest on the floor of the hall itself.