Aviva Studios, Factory International

By OMA

Client Manchester City Council

Award RIBA North West Award 2025

The award winner tells us: "This landmark new cultural space in the heart of Manchester is one of the largest and most ambitious developments of its kind in Europe. Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, is designed by OMA, and is the firm’s first major public building in the UK.

The development has been led by Manchester City Council, with backing from HM Government and Arts Council England. Factory International operates the cultural centre, as well as delivering the citywide Manchester International Festival every other year.

The jury says: "Sandwiched between listed railway arches, the River Irwell, the Science and Industry Museum and a rash of new apartment blocks that form the regeneration of the former Granada TV Studios, this was not the most obvious of locations for a major arts building.

The entrance lobby, foyer bar, nightclub, reading space, ticket office, social heart of the building – yes, that is all one space – is a counterintuitively low-ceilinged and dark yet welcoming introduction to the building. Avoiding the typical double-height light-filled atriums of arts venues, this approach creates a space which is simultaneously large yet intimate."

Read the full citation from the RIBA Awards Jury on RIBA Journal

Contractor Laing O’Roarke

Structural and civil engineer Buro Happold

Environmental/M&E engineer BDP

Acoustic engineer Level Acoustics

Fire engineer WSP

Stage engineering Charcoalblue

Vertical transportation Pearson Consult

Landscape design Planit.IE

IT Strata

Transport planning Vectos

Services engineer Buro Happold

Furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FFE) Ben Kelly and Brinkworth

Graphic design Peter Saville and NORTH Design

Architectural lighting designers BDP Lighting

Gross internal area 13,350m²