‘Everything turns inside out and upside down’ – a first look at Manchester’s new £186 million arts venue

Stage designer Es Devlin describes Factory International, Manchester’s new arts venue, like this: “Imagine if you took the Royal Festival Hall auditorium and trucked it along the Thames to the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, then just rammed it up to the wall.”

It is an apposite idea: from the Hallé Orchestra to Thomas De Quincey to the Smiths, Manchester has long produced artistic talent to rival London. Currently under construction alongside the River Irwell, the venue has landed in the city’s rain-lashed landscape like a lunar module – a multifaceted obelisk hovering above a public square and resting against an enormous blank box, all clad in pale, pristine concrete and corrugated metal.

Viewed from the street, the structure is enigmatic, even a little foreboding. Inside, a 13,000 sq m, £186 million complex is taking shape. In the words of Manchester-born film director Danny Boyle, it is an “an extraordinary invitation to ambition”.

When it opens next June – over-budget and several years behind schedule, partly down to the pandemic – it will test the city’s international artistic aspirations. Factory International will also be home to Manchester International Festival, the city’s increasingly ambitious biennial, and a talent academy.

Devlin and Boyle were leading the publicity push for the venue’s programme, which includes Free Your Mind, their live “reimagining” of the Matrix films choreographed by Kenrick “H2O” Sandy with a cast of untrained Mancunians joining professional dancers, and You, Me and the Balloons, a 10ft, immersive installation of tendrilled inflatables by the bankable Japanese artist Yajoi Kusama, her largest to date.

But even more anticipated than the box-office names was the partial unveiling of the venue. Inside, against the pounding of jackhammers, architect Ellen van Loon, a partner at Rem Koolhaas’s Office for Metropolitan Architecture, described the building as “the most fun I have ever had”. The Dutch practice was also behind the Fondazione Prada in Milan and the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, Taiwan.

Factory International is smaller than those venues, but what sets it apart is its modularity. It can be configured to host everything from massive raves to intimate performances. “Everything turns inside out, everything turns upside down,” says Van Loon.

That box is “the warehouse”, a bare, 21-m-high reimagining of the city’s Industrial Revolution-era structures, obviously suited to raves, gigs and installations. The walls and ceiling hide a jumble of systems for hoisting, dangling and shunting installations: “You could even hang a room in here,” says Van Loon.

There is a separate “hall”, a more traditional, 1,600-capacity auditorium, 80-player concert pit and theatre. The hall and warehouse are separated by what are claimed to be “the strongest and thickest acoustic doors in the world”.

“You can have a rave in the warehouse and a spoken-word event in the theatre without either audience hearing the other,” says Manchester International Festival creative director Low Kee Hong.

Really? “Well, it still has to be tested. But yes.”

When those doors are lifted, the hall’s proscenium opens into the warehouse to allow the stage to run 50ft into the building - about the size of a block. That means artists “can stage with real perspective instead of fake,” says Van Loon.

Factory International has been controversial, not only because of delays but also because it is tens of millions of pounds over its original budget. It is backed by the Treasury to the tune of £78 million, also by Manchester City Council (£50 million), with the rest paid for by Lottery funding, the government’s Culture Recovery Fund and donations. There have also been mutterings of “art washing” for a nearby developer-led residential project (where the state pays for a cultural venue while private profits are reaped).

That would be a convincing accusation if Factory International were a less ambitious enterprise. But what was revealed this week reflects progressive flair and a commitment to showcasing the city’s artistic clout – something at which Manchester has always excelled.