Cambridge Arts Theatre:Cambridge Oxygenated

The Cambridge Arts Theatre will raise its curtain next month after a three-year closure. Public and Lottery funding totalling 8.3m has been pumped into its new interiors, created by architect Bland, Brown & Cole, and a new identity and signage system designed and implemented by Oxygen.

The London group was originally brought in to create the logo pentagon, which turned out to be only a small part of the eventual project, says Oxygen creative director Aubrey Kurlansky.

With the rebuilding of the theatre the main priority, the signage took a back seat and Oxygen was only appointed in August.

Kurlansky was given no brief for the project and ‘set about talking to the architects and getting a feel for what would work. I wanted something that would be sympathetic to the architecture’, he explains, adding that the ‘something’ had to be achievable on a tight budget.

Oxygen created about 30 different images, which are being applied to doors and walls backstage and in public areas. The two bars also have 3-D signs outside.

In total, more than 300 signs will direct audiences and employees around the building. ‘It was an enormous project management job,’ says Kurlansky.

Design: Graphics and signs, Oxygen

Client: Cambridge Arts Theatre