The programme consists of three main parts:
- a record archive and music library
- a recording studio
- a public park
The project deals with the storage of sound, manipulation of sound and the experience of sound. Sounds are reflected or absorbed through the architecture. The building explores the meeting of different soundscapes and a built structure. The building is an instrument amplifying sounds from within and from the outside. Four different users inhabit the project; music lovers exploring the archive, musicians using the studio, people using the park and pedestrians walking through the site.
The archive
NRK, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, has the biggest record collection in Norway. It was established in 1936 and contains almost 400 000 records from which 220 000 are vinyl and the rest are CDs. They are half way through the process of digitizing the whole collection. I want to make the physical collection open to the public.
The Building
A concrete structure is carved into the landscape containing the record archive. It is shaped out of existing impulses from the environment. The bunker typology protects the collection, it has constant temperature and no direct sunlight. The structure also functions as a noise barrier to the traffic, improving the sonic environment of the park. Three cylinders contain the record collection. They function as juke boxes. The records are kept in sealed boxes in the walls of the cylinders and record players move around them and collect and play them on demand. The records are visually present in the whole building, but are concealed inside the cylinders.
The studio
The rooms for manipulation of sound are placed on the west side of the project. They consist of the recording studio and two sound rooms; the reverberation chamber and the anechoic chamber. They are extracted as individual shapes and concealed by the main (more massive) building structure. The sound barrier in the back protects these sound sensitive rooms from traffic noise.
The park
The park and the building are woven together. From the east side where the roads are the landscape turns into the roof structure which functions as an integrated part of the park. Excavated masses are deposited along the road to form a noise barrier making the park more quiet. Two listening stations on the roof makes the record collection available for the park users. Different elements in the park enhance the sounds from the park and the city.
The Site
The site is at Grønland in Oslo between the river Akerselva and Nylandsveien. It is currently a green park.
The site is an open space which many people move through or stop to have a rest. This opens up for a new public space, a space which can give an experience of music and social gathering.