The Lord's Media Centre, officially known as the J.P. Morgan Media Centre for sponsorship reasons, is a building at Lord's Cricket Ground, London.
History
The building was designed by Future Systems and cost about £5 million. The Media Centre, which was built by Pendennis Shipyard, Falmouth in Cornwall in combination with Centraalstaal from The Netherlands,. It was commissioned in time for the 1999 Cricket World Cup It was built and fitted-out in two boatyards and utilises boat-building technology. It has only one opening window, which is in the broadcasting box occupied by BBC Test Match Special. Originally sponsored by NatWest, in 2007 sponsorship was taken over by Investec. Since 31 May 2011, the media centre has been sponsored by J.P Morgan.
Design
The choice of site was dictated by the need to provide a view from behind the bowler's arm during a cricket match. While a suitable site did exist in the gap between the existing Compton and Edrich stands, this was too small for an adequately sized building. Also, the gap was needed to provide access to the ground for ground staff and their machinery. Placing the building above the gap solved the problem. It was the first all aluminium, semi-monocoque building in the world. The fact that the structure was built by a shipyard is betrayed by the internal doors having rounded corners similar to those in many ships. Such a door is visible in the background of the photo of the Media Centre interior. The centre stands above the ground and its sole support comes from the structure around its two lift shafts – it is approximately the same height as the Pavilion directly opposite it on the other side of the ground. The lower tier of the centre provides accommodation for over 100 journalists and the top tier has radio and television commentary boxes. The Building was awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture in 1999. Media centre was designed by architectural practice Future Systems led by Czech architect Jan Kaplický.
