Chromatic Soundscape. Walkable sound sculpture for a musical festival in Sansusi, Latvia in the south of Riga.
The Sansusī Festival of classical and contemporary chamber music is a unique, that brings together music enthusiasts and artists.
It unites and merges the inspiring open space atmosphere of rock festivals with the personal, calm and introspective dialogue of chamber music.
Embedding & concept. A duality between: stage couple and tribune, audience and musicians,
rhythm and melody, versatile musicians and audience, interchangeable and intermixable. A permeable space is created in the birch grove – a superimposition of nature and architecture. The battle between the musicians shifts, the two stages form a unit as a counterpoint to the grandstand, which is part of the sound sculpture.
The stage pair, a ∞ in the floor plan, forms the power center of the place. The double floor at seat
height creates a row of cajons, rhythm music elements, whose resonating body is the stage floor, the side walls correspondingly thin-walled so that they can vibrate.
Rhythm panels, equipped with different sounding metal sheets and objects, can be flexibly installed on thestage using a plug-in system. During the performance, they form sound reflectors to optimize the acoustics in the stage area.
Above, acoustically optimally aligned, circular roof panels are symbiotically perforated and held in place by slender birch trunks.
The counterpart, a grandstand, a light, airy and permeable net stretches like a spider’s web in a
circular, approx. 3.50 m high bridge that defines the sound space: a path of melodies with chromaticallyarranged sounds that can be plucked, bowed or simply struck.
Tribune or stage, bar roof or forest path – it encloses the scenery, remains permeable and blends into the densely overgrown birch grove, in the middle of which the battle stage is located.
The All-rounder, an all-embracing acoustic organism is formed.
The staggered heights of the grandstand and the circular arrangement with a maximum distance between musicians and audience of approx. 20 meters result in very good acoustic conditions.
The rope grandstand can hold approx. 260 people, another 80 people can sit on the footbridge, so that the remaining 160-260 people can spread out on the floor area with their mobile seating, folding chairs, whichthey can find at the entrance next to the bar, depending on the staging.
The exact dimensions of the project will be slightly adapted to the actual tree situation in accordance with an engeneer so that the trees are all preserved.
Soundpath. Two times 12 sound tubes, chromatically tuned, form the sound space for visitors to the festival. Part of the main construction, they can be plucked, beaten and bowed. The higher the bridge, the lower the pitch (frequency).
An amplifying resonator with adjustable sound hole sits between the clamps. A string is stretched over a fixed sound tube sitting in front.
The audience is invited to explore and tune the strings experimentally, using either their own body weight or pebbles . It can also be fixed on top to play music in tune.