Exterior concert hall waveform glass
waveform glass Installation © VS-A
Completed installation © VS-A
Surface Treatment © VS-A
Installation Concept © VS-A
CASA DA MUSICA
Studio : VS-A.FR
Client : CITY OF PORTO
Architect : OMA
Contractor : FACAL
Location : PORTO, PORTUGAL
This is for sure one of the most iconic buildings of OMA. For more than a year, there was a huge 1/50 model in OMA’s office allowing the design team to check in ‘3D’ all the different concepts.
The story of the corrugated glass is just amazing: during a meeting with all the design team, around 20 architects and consultants, Rem invites me and Renz, the acoustics engineer, to have a private talk about the facades. He reminds us his strong interest in having natural daylight in the concert hall, he understands that glass is not so good regarding acoustics, and that it will require a lot of framework.
Then he asks Renz to confirm that corrugated glass will help the acoustic. He confirms. He asks me to confirm that corrugated glass requires much less framing support. I confirm.
In 5 minutes, the concept was set, never to be changed for the duration of the project.
OMA is a very democratic company, where all the employees can participate in the discussions. But this time, Rem did it all by himself. Let’s never think that ‘starchitects’ just let others do the work : they are passionate, they understand perfectly the technical problems, and they are able to propose the most brilliant ideas in as little as a meeting. For this I have a deep respect.