After forty years performing in borrowed and rented spaces, MTC needed a building that was finally, unambiguously theirs.

We visited venues in Australia and overseas – the Royal Court, Hampstead, Steppenwolf – on a research trip that spotlit the design key: theatre buildings which reflect the existing culture of their institution outperform those that try to impose a new one. MTC's culture was that of a company that had always made the best of other people's venues – resourceful, unsentimental, focused entirely on the work. Our interior of the 500-seat Sumner Theatre reflects this: plasterboard walls, timber floors. It’s prosaic rather than grand. Yet extraordinary.

The technical decisions back this up. A single-rake house with no balcony gives every seat the best possible sightline to the stage. The stage, fly and wing configuration make it arguably one of the best drama facilities in the world. The proscenium and Juliet balconies are adjustable; the orchestra pit raises to stalls level; the grid converts the whole space to black box. Technically delivered, each flexible option actually works.

The façade is a matrix of glowing tubes in angular box shapes hovering on the black box of the building. The tubework draws directly on the metal scaffold frames backstage – the technical supporting elements of performance absorbed into an artistic act of architectural invention. The boxes repeat inside, as if a giant theatre light shines onto the façade to cast a shadow of itself on the interior walls.

The Lawler Studio is a black box for rehearsals, functions and performances to audiences up to 150.