2015
Honorable Mention, Competition
Site: Tokyo, Japan
Program: Music Hall
 

The Harajuku Music Centre is a playful answer to the program of designing a music hall in one of the busiest and most dynamic areas of Tokyo, the fun and young neighborhood of Harajuku. Yet, even though it might seem overtly expressive, it is programmatically rigorous, conceptually powerful, and contextually responsive, bridging and uniting the urban with the pastoral through the experiential.

The site for the concert hall finds itself at the intersection of the exciting and hyper-urban lifestyle of Harajuku and the pastoral quietness of the Togo Shrine garden just behind the property line. A direct connection and path is established between these two areas that intercepts the building, with the desire to unite these opposing worlds in order to increase porosity, experiences and interaction.

The project tries to harness the urban and seasonal energy of the context and externalizes it for all to enjoy and use. One way in which this is done is by creating a façade that is multifunctional and unique, which performs by changing colors relating to external forces (groups of Harajuku characters and the seasonal weather) and that above all, mediates between the city (flat façade facing the street) and the pastoral (sculptural concave roof / façade facing the park that is behind the site)

Internally, a suspended and acoustically efficient shoe-box style concert hall is the setting for music events crowned with the Harajuku in the background, seen through a framed glass wall. As the audience listens and dance to the music, the ceiling over their heads bows and billows, suggesting an energy that will escape the interior space and spread to the outside streets.

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