The outside of a concert hall is seen, by most, more than its stage. They become city mascots, of course, but they should also act as an invitation. How can the public be encouraged to cross the threshold — from exterior to interior — without diminishing the creative works within? Whether newly constructed or housed within a historical building, a cultural space must be alive and active rather than a static token of a city’s culture.
In November 2017, PLANE—SITE was invited to contribute to the World Architecture Festival. Our response was to create a multimedia, interactive panel drawing on our ongoing research into concert halls — beginning with Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal in 2015. The resulting four films, outlined below, were created to highlight what we see as major themes in contemporary music architecture. First presented as part of a main-stage panel at the 2017 World Architecture Festival, these videos provided the jumping off point for an intriguing conversation between panelists, the WAF audience and the videos themselves. Panelists included Michel Cova of dUCKS scéno, Tateo Nakajima of Arup, and Jakob Kurek of Henning Larsen. The panel was moderated by Andres Ramirez of PLANE—SITE.
