How performance architecture evolved into museums, visitor attractions and international film studios
“An architecture worth making a song and dance about.”
That was how Jonathan Glancey, then Architecture Correspondent of The Independent, described the Royal International Pavilion at Llangollen when it opened in July 1992.
More than thirty years later, following the successful conclusion of the 79th Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in July 2026, those words remain as relevant today as they were when they were first written.
The Pavilion was more than an innovative tensile structure. It represented an approach to architecture that placed performance, flexibility and human experience at the heart of the design process.
Looking back, it marked the beginning of a journey that would lead through museums, visitor attractions and, ultimately, the planning and design of international film studios.
“Architecture does not tell the story. It creates the stage on which stories come to life.”
When people think about storytelling, they usually think about writers, actors, directors or musicians.
Architecture is rarely mentioned.
Yet every memorable performance, exhibition, museum or film depends upon carefully designed environments that shape how stories are experienced.
Long before 4D Studio Architects became involved in the planning and design of international film studios, our work explored a simple question:
How can architecture enhance the experience of performers, audiences and visitors while supporting the complex operations that happen behind the scenes?
Over more than three decades, that question has influenced projects ranging from international festivals and world-class museums to immersive visitor attractions and, today, major film studio developments.
Although each project served a different purpose, they shared a common ambition: creating places where people come together to experience stories.
A Stage for the World
One of the earliest milestones in this journey was the Royal International Pavilion at Llangollen, North Wales.
Designed by John Muir and his architectural team with structural engineer Neil Thomas of Atelier One, the pavilion was opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 1992 as the new home of the internationally renowned Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.
The challenge was remarkable.
The building needed to accommodate up to 6,000 people during the annual festival while remaining flexible enough to operate throughout the year as a theatre, concert hall, conference venue and community facility.
Its innovative tensile membrane roof created a striking new landmark while providing an adaptable, economical and technically sophisticated performance venue.
Writing in The Independent, respected architecture critic Jonathan Glancey described the pavilion as:
“An architecture worth making a song and dance about.”
More than thirty years later, the building continues to fulfil exactly the role for which it was designed. The 79th Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, held in July 2026, once again welcomed performers and audiences from around the world, confirming the enduring success of a building conceived not simply as architecture, but as an adaptable home for international performance.
For John Muir, the project reinforced a lasting principle:
Great performance architecture is not defined by the building itself, but by the experiences it enables.
Revealing Hidden Stories
As the practice’s experience developed, the focus expanded from live performance to cultural institutions where architecture could reveal stories hidden behind the scenes.
At the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Design Director Teva Hesse, then with C. F. Møller Architects, led the design of the Sammy Ofer Wing.
The project created a new public entrance, exhibition facilities, café, restaurant, research library and archives while carefully respecting one of Britain’s most important historic settings.
Rather than competing with the Grade I listed museum, much of the extension was concealed beneath a landscaped public terrace, allowing visitors to discover the museum in an entirely new way while preserving the historic character of Maritime Greenwich.
Today, the museum welcomes more than two million visitors each year, demonstrating how sensitive contemporary architecture can enhance both visitor experience and heritage significance.
Making Science Visible
A similar philosophy informed the Darwin Centre II at London’s Natural History Museum, another project led during its design stages by Teva Hesse while at C. F. Møller Architects.
Here, architecture was used to reveal something rarely seen by the public.
Behind the dramatic concrete “Cocoon” lies one of the world’s most significant scientific collections, housing millions of botanical and entomological specimens together with research laboratories and conservation facilities.
Visitors follow a carefully designed route through the building, observing scientists at work without interrupting their research.
The architecture transforms specialist scientific activity into an engaging public experience while maintaining the highly controlled environments required for world-class research.
It is an elegant demonstration of how architecture can balance operational excellence with public engagement.
From Visitor Attractions to Production Environments
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, 4D Studio’s thinking was further enriched by the arrival of Ian McGonigal, whose experience in the international visitor attraction industry brought another important dimension.
Working on projects including Madame Tussauds New York in Times Square, Ian specialised in creating immersive, high-capacity environments where architecture, theatrical design and operational planning worked seamlessly together.
His understanding of visitor movement, crowd management, environmental control and themed storytelling complemented the practice’s growing interest in performance architecture.
These ideas came together most visibly in Dickens World at Chatham Maritime.
The project centred on an approximately 70,000 sq ft production-quality themed environment, recreating a Dickensian town together with twelve immersive story sets, theatres, cinemas, restaurants and public spaces.
More than 140 artists and craftspeople from Pinewood Studios, managed by Rick Mathews Associates (RMA), collaborated to create richly detailed interiors capable of transporting visitors into Dickens’ world.
Although conceived as a visitor attraction, Dickens World demonstrated many of the same principles that underpin modern film studios:
immersive environments,
complex operational logistics,
large multidisciplinary teams,
specialist workshops,
technical integration,
and architecture designed to support storytelling.
The Evolution into Film Studios
Today, those lessons continue to shape our work on film studio developments across the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Modern film studios are often described in terms of sound stages, workshops and production offices.
Yet their true purpose is remarkably similar to the projects that preceded them.
Like a theatre, they support performance.
Like a museum, they reveal stories.
Like a visitor attraction, they immerse people in carefully created worlds.
The architecture itself is rarely the final destination.
It exists to enable creativity.
Whether designing a festival pavilion in North Wales, extending one of Britain’s greatest museums, creating immersive visitor attractions or planning international production campuses, the underlying philosophy remains unchanged.
Architecture should never compete with the story.
It should create the conditions in which the story can flourish.
Looking Forward
Film production continues to evolve through virtual production, advanced visual effects, artificial intelligence and new technologies.
Yet one thing remains constant.
People still come together to create stories.
The role of architecture is to provide places where those stories can be imagined, rehearsed, produced and shared with the world.
That journey—from performance venues and museums to immersive attractions and international film studios—has shaped the way 4D Studio Architects thinks about design today.
Because every performance needs a stage.
And every great story deserves an exceptional place in which to begin.
The buildings may have changed, from festival pavilions and museums to visitor attractions and international film studios, but the principle has remained remarkably consistent: the best architecture does not compete with the performance; it enables it.
About 4D Studio
4D Studio Architects advises developers, investors and operators on the planning, design and delivery of film studio developments throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. Our experience also encompasses major cultural buildings, museums, visitor attractions and performance venues, providing a unique perspective on the architecture of storytelling.
