Contemporary music has no built representation in Vienna, the self-proclaimed „city of music“. Sonic Tower wants to fill this gap and bring modern music back to the center, the Karlsplatz.
vertical instrument for contemporary music, Karlsplatz
The broad spectrum of musical creations asks for flexible spaces that do not limit performances to a set-up but offer new possibilities and trigger the experimental.
In Sonic Tower different types of auditoriums are combined in a vertical continuum. Through air-tight valves segments of the auditorium tube can be acoustically linked or seperated during concerts to modify spatial and acoustic effects. The valves enable the simultaneous use of non-adjanctant auditoriums for individual events or rehearsals.
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auditoriums can be linked trough valvesThe auditorium body is connected to the underground system of the Karlsplatz with its tunnels, passages and the subterranean Wienfluss. Above ground the tower divides the Karlsplatz into two defined areas, the actual square in front of the Karlskirche and the traffic zone along the Wienzeile.
A public ramp leads up the tower allowing non-paying visitors to glimpse and listen into performances and rehearsals. Sonic Tower is a widely visible landmark for modern music and a public place for immersing into the unknown.
Model Detail
Sonic Tower was a diploma project at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in 2005 and won several prices like the Austrian Baupreis (category: thesis projects) or the Experimentelle Tendenzen in der Architektur. It was also exhibited at the The Essence in Vienna.