We were approached earlier in the year by a school in North East London who were wanting to encourage their pupils to take their outdoor lessons and performances outside. The brief was fairly straight forward – it had to easily blend in with its immediate environment, not be too “show-y”, had to cater for a class of 30 children and could easily withstand whatever the elements would throw at it!

The area the school had allocated to this outdoor amphitheatre project was fairly tight  – so hence the reason an amphitheatre seating arrangement was chosen as we designed it into a semi-circular format to make the most of the space available. We were installing onto a non-level grassed area by the side of the school’s hall so in order to blend naturally into this environment, we used artificial grass for seating along the two seating tiers. The other advantage of using this material is that it can easily withstand harsh weather conditions and it looks aesthetically pleasant too! The frame is made from heavy duty sleepers which are treated for longevity.

The school didn’t want to have any roof over this area either as they felt that it would be too imposing and restrictive.

The school also wanted to have some sort of a built-in, focal central stage so that either pupils could use this to present their performances or studies and/or teachers could also use to teach from. Again, we had to take the weather into account so this stage is made from a special anti-slip decking.

The job was completed within a week during the summer holidays so the school are now looking forward to their first outdoor sessions!

For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982 or email: info@hideouthouse.com