Music and Light, an exhibition about The Sage Gateshead (commissioned by Gateshead Council) will be staged at The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1 and will run from 8th February until the 12th March 2005.

The event forms part of the Building Centre’s Products in Practice series, which explores the way design and materials work together through architecture. Based around a number of architectural models the exhibition will bring to life the design and construction process of this high profile recently completed project. The exhibition will focus on specific key elements of the project such as the acoustic performance of the halls, the development of the auditoria seating, the 720 ton steel grid-shell roof and the site-specific balustrade, a collaboration between the artist Kate Maestri and Foster and Partners.

Alongside the exhibition the Building Centre Trust will host a series of technical seminars explaining the design and construction of the project to architects, engineers and students.

	Foster and Partners www.fosterandpartners.com
	Dane Architectural Systems Ltd www.danearchitectural.co.uk
	Figueras International Seating www.figueras.com
	Waagner Biro www.waagner-biro.at
	Thrislington Cubicles www.thrislingtoncubicles.com

Spencer de Grey will launch The Sage Gateshead - Music and Light exhibition with a lecture exploring the design of The Sage Gateshead, Foster and Partners first Performing Arts building in the UK. The building successfully accommodates three distinct state-of-the-art auditoria under an eye-catching steel and glass grid-shell roof. The public concourse that links together the three auditoria affords splendid views across the River Tyne and of the Tyne Bridge whilst adding significantly to the public realm.

Johann Sischka discusses the Digital fabrication techniques used in creating the unique glass roof enclosing the three different concert spaces.

The roof, engineered by Buro Happold and fabricated by Waagner Biro, is an entirely independent structure.

As the design evolved, using specialised parametric modelling software, the complex geometry of the enclosure was rationalised to allow the repetition and standardisation of construction elements.

Kate Maestri is an architectural glass artist who collaborated with Foster and Partners to design a site-specific curved coloured glass balustrade running 100 metres through the main concourse of The Sage Gateshead.

The manufacture of the balustrade was managed and co-ordinated by Peterlee Glass.

Jason Flanagan and Ian Knowles discuss the specific requirements of the acoustics at the Sage Centre Gateshead and the techniques used to create one of the top concert spaces in Europe.

Figueras – New Seating for Conventions,Theatres and Concert Halls. Designers and technicians from Figueras International Seating will present their latest seating designs on the 7th March
1.30 - 6.30pm, please call Kate Pointon on 020 76926208 to reserve a place