The best solution to an architectural problem, argued the great architectural thinker Cedric Price (1934-2003), may not necessarily be a building. I mention Price because his spirit lurks somewhere behind the complex formerly known as Factory International, recently renamed Aviva Studios, a new £211m “landmark cultural space” that will be a home for the biennial Manchester international festival and a year-round facility. I also mention Price because this project is evidence that he might have been right.
His own designs (largely unbuilt, though he did co-author the beautiful aviary at London zoo) proposed flexible frameworks with moving parts that could be changed and reconfigured at will – mobile classrooms on railway wagons, for example. Similar ambitions motivate Aviva Studios, which, with the help of foldaway seating, retractable floors and huge sliding doors, is designed to host “any kind of setup”, as the official blurb puts it, “from intimate theatre shows and intricate exhibitions, to huge multimedia performances and warehouse-scale gigs”.
