WMC
The Academi at the Wales Millennium Centre
The Academi is one of a group of arts organisations which have permanent homes in the new Wales Millennium Centre currently under construction in Cardiff Bay. Along with Welsh National Opera, Urdd Gobaith Cymru, Diversions Dance Company, Ty Cerdd / Welsh Amateur Music Information Centre, Hijinx Theatre Company, and the Touch Trust the Academi has offices within the Percy Thomas Partnership’s powerful construction situated next to the new Assembly building and dominating the Cardiff Bay Waterfront.
The building was designed to evoke images of the Welsh landscape and of cultural and working traditions of Wales. It has been built of Welsh materials and features recycled slate blocks from the quarries of North Wales; special steel from Gwent, and native hardwoods from Mid Wales. The building reflects the rock strata of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast and columns supporting the internal galleries take the form of tree ferns which thrived in the area hundreds of millions of years ago and which are now found as fossils in the coal measures.
The architectural glass department of Swansea Institute worked with designers to insert ’fissures’ of glass into the slate block walls of the Centre.
A major feature of the building is the monumental inscription over the main entrance which echoes common practice in Roman architecture found in Wales. The inscription emphasises and reflects the cultural aspirations of Wales. The text was developed by poet Gwyneth Lewis using ideas presented by the Academi run competition to find a suitable inscription. The winning inscription reads CREU GWIR FEL GWYDR O FFWRNAIS AWEN / IN THESE STONES HORIZONS SING
The inscription on the front of the Millennium Centre building is based on the convergence of our classical and pagan literary heritage. It sets the Centre apart from any other modern architectural structure. Each of the letters is a window, opening the theatre foyers to views outward and inward. The glass is 15cms thick and was installed by the Architectural Glass Department at Swansea Institute. At night, the lights of the foyer can be seen from afar, blazing through the inscription across the Bay.
The Academi ran a competition to help develop wording for this inscription. Over one thousand people – from recognised academics to people who had never written poetry before - generated a panoply of ideas which were portrayed on the hoardings around the site during the construction of the Centre.
The competition helped develop the idea that the ancient Welsh bardic triad form should be used in the context of a twenty-first century building to express the durability of Welsh cultural values. The final words have individual meanings in Welsh and English. They were shaped by poet Gwyneth Lewis, whose last book won the Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year award.
Creu Gwir
Fel Gwydr
O Ffwrnais Awen
In These Stones
Horizons
Sing
The Welsh words translate as ’Creating truth like glass from the furnace of inspiration’
Inside, the Wales Millennium Centre has theatre, opera, exhibition and performance spaces along with a variety of bars, restaurants and meeting spaces. In addition to literary performances the Centre presents West End Musicals, international opera, dance, youth activities as well as operating as a centre for artistic research and education.
The Wales Millennium Centre is a £92m project which has created work for over 350 - including 250 new jobs. Construction of architect Jonathan Adams’ masterwork began in February 2002 and it finally opened its doors to the public at the end of 2004. The project is funded by the Millennium Commission, The Arts Council of Wales Lottery Fund, the public and private sectors along with European sources.
