Building captures kinship of music and architecture
by Jonathan McGaha | May 31, 2009 12:00 am
Austria is steeped in unparalleled music richness, from Mozart to Haydn to Strauss. It is also characterized by its appreciation of harmony and musical art, with stately structures from all eras underlining the reputation of the country as a treasure trove of architectural delights. The new Centre for Music and Music Theatre, known as MUMUTH, in Graz, Austria, testifies to the remarkable spiritual kinship of music and architecture.
After an international architectural competition, long years of planning and two years of construction, MUMUTH opened on March 1. The facility was designed by Ben van Berkel and the architects at the UNStudio, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and features a filigree membrane of woven metal mesh by GKD – Gebr. Kufferath AG, Düren, Germany, giving it the look of a finely strung soundbox.
Van Berkel picked up on the classical relationship between music and architecture and reinterpreted it with international twists. He created a building that renders the music performed in it physically tangible, while making the architecture ring out. With free-flowing forms and interior spaces, the building supports the music in the same way that music influenced the building’s design. A central spiral, made of decorative concrete, is a dominant element, analogous to the art of the fugue.
The core of the three-story building is the 5,705- square-foot
(530-m2), 450-seat multifunctional hall with cutting-edge stage equipment. The building features two rehearsal stages, orchestra and musical theater rehearsal rooms, offices and installation rooms. The arrangement of the orchestra and musical theater rehearsal rooms, with the foyer in between, provides optimal acoustic separation while allowing them to be used simultaneously.
As a discreet, shimmering monolith, the MUMUTH building only allows a view from outside into the complex musical score of the spatial structure at night. During the day, the slightly curved, reflective metallic skin enters into a visual dialogue with its surroundings. At night, LED lights transform the protective membrane into an imaginative fusion of transparency and colors.
GKD – Gebr. Kufferath AG’s Omega woven metal mesh materializes the glass façade of Graz’s prestige project as variations on a theme. Woven in varying densities with smooth transitions, the textile-like skin functions in daylight as visual and sun protection. The project features 66 panels of the Omega mesh, each measuring 57 1/3 by 11 feet (17.5 by 3.3 m), for a total of 43,075 square feet (4,000 m2) of translucent skin. The double-curved zones of the façade posed a challenge to GKD. The leading edges of the orthogonal mesh were curved to fit the slightly bulging form of the façade like a second skin. The radial mesh edges were finished with special flat profiles that were fastened in a corresponding way during the tensioning of the mesh façade panels. The resulting woven metallic veil’s rhythm, harmony and proportion cause the interior and exterior of the MUMUTH to coalesce into an enchanting symphony of glass, concrete and stainless steel.
GKD – Gebr. Kufferath AG
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/building-captures-kinship-of-music-and-architecture/