The new Performing Arts Centre at Sevenoaks School is the first project of a Masterplan prepared by Tim Ronalds Architects. The project won a RIBA National Award , Wood Award, Best Education Building Brick Award and was placed on the Stirling Prize Mid-List. The brief was for a high quality building, with excellent acoustics. The accommodation includes a 500 seat hall, suitable for concerts and assembly, a recital space, 25 music teaching and practice rooms, drama studios, departmental offices and the 220-seat Sackville Theatre. The site for the new building overlooks Knole Park, designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the design has required particular sensitivity. The material vocabulary was an important part of the design strategy from the outset; the aim being to make a building which was made of solid natural materials throughout for acoustic reasons, durability and for the feeling of warmth that we feel is desirable for performance spaces. Environmental considerations and services design play a larger part in the design than might be apparent: the hall is naturally ventilated as well as highly soundproof, the building is cooled by groundwater and comprehensively daylit.