Waves Of Sound

2024 Author: David Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 02:26

In January of this year, the Vyborg administration held a competition for a sketch of a music school with a concert hall for 500 people, at Keppa Street, 4, directly opposite the famous library built by Alavar Aalto. The competition was open, but received little coverage in the press, and therefore gathered only five participants. Among them, by chance - a well-wisher sent a link with information - was the St. Petersburg bureau "A. Len". According to Sergei Oreshkin, "the competition was held so behind the scenes that it is not clear why it was necessary to do it at all." The winner was a project whose authors "were able to express the idea at the lowest cost."

In order to provoke greater interest in a place that deserves public hearings and an international competition, the A. Len bureau decided to show its proposal.

In addition to the obvious reasons that attracted the attention of "A. Len" to the competition - the city center with the status of a historical settlement, the neighborhood with the great architect, a rare typology - there is one more: the head of the bureau, Serey Oreshkin, was born in Vyborg, where he graduated from an art school, where the greatest charge as a young "pre-architect". He describes Vyborg as a place with a unique urban planning "like from a textbook", which is especially pronounced next to the design site.

Lenin Avenue, one of the main axes of the city, connects the market and front squares, on one side along it there are dense "Petersburg" buildings, on the other - parks and squares, including the park-esplanade, where the library is located. Opposite it, at the corner of Suvorovsky Prospect and Keppa Street, in a residential area with low stalinkas, a school will be built. It will complement the "recreational" strip along Lenin Avenue and strengthen the front of Suvorov Avenue, filling the gap.

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1/3 Music school with a concert hall in Vyborg © A. Len Architectural Bureau
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2/3 Music school with a concert hall in Vyborg © A. Len Architectural Bureau
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3/3 Music school with a concert hall in Vyborg © A. Len Architectural Bureau

The participants of the competition had to decide how to place a building saturated with functions on a relatively small elongated area without compromising the logistics of the processes taking place in it. In the sketch "A. Len" the school consists of several blocks of different heights. The academic building occupies almost half of the entire volume, has a separate entrance and is located in the part farthest from Suvorovsky Prospect: class windows would thus overlook quiet green courtyards. In the center of the project is a concert hall, and closest to the Aalto library is a lobby with a complex system of stairs and tiers.

Музыкальная школа с концертным залом в Выборге © Архитектурное бюро «А. Лен»

The organization of the spaces obeys the logic of functions: the streams of children and adults who come to concerts are separated, the loading of the scenery takes place in the “non-ceremonial” part of the street and, if possible, is hidden from view. The lobby space is adapted for “micro events” - exhibitions, readings, and film screenings can be held in its various corners. For classes and performances in the open air, there are two amphitheaters: one on the roof, the second on a small square, which "echoes" the building in the depths of the block.

The expressive envelope of the building is deliberately opposed to the austerity of the Aalto library. Sergey Oreshkin says that the image came from the function: lamellas of different widths are a stylized piano keyboard. The trick turned out to be simple, but extremely capacious.

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1/5 Concept. Vyborg School of Arts project © A. Len Architectural Bureau
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2/5 Concept. Vyborg School of Arts project © A. Len Architectural Bureau
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3/5 Concept. Vyborg School of Arts project © A. Len Architectural Bureau
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4/5 Concept. Vyborg School of Arts project © A. Len Architectural Bureau
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5/5 Concept. Vyborg School of Arts project © A. Len Architectural Bureau

The visualizations, where the library and the school, separated by a road, "look" at each other, suggest that, with proper execution, an interesting dialogue between Aalto's masterpiece and the new building is indeed possible. In the sketch "A. Len", the school creates a "feminine" couple for the minimalist library building, which emphasizes the merits and reveals the creation of the Finnish architect from a new angle.

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1/5 Alvaro Aalto Library in Vyborg © Denis Esakov
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2/5 Alvaro Aalto Library in Vyborg © Denis Esakov
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3/5 Alvaro Aalto Library in Vyborg © Denis Esakov
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4/5 Alvaro Aalto Library in Vyborg © Denis Esakov
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5/5 Alvaro Aalto Library in Vyborg © Denis Esakov

The “femininity” of the school is felt both on the “subject” level: lamellas resemble folds, ruffles, veils, and on a more subtle, unconscious: bends and illumination make you feel warmth, vibration, life. "Femininity" is probably one of the most obvious signs of organic architecture, and in this project the "organic", to which the bureau gravitates, but is unable to realize, say, in residential complexes, finally sounds in full force.

Buildings are not only opposed, but also connected. Alvar Aalto often combined organic architecture and functionalism in his works, in addition, the name of the architect is translated as “wave”, and the most famous part of the Vyborg library is the undulating ceiling. From this point of view, the school can be viewed as the inside of the library revealed to the viewer. If we continue to talk about the pairing of buildings, then the undulating facade of the school and the "corrugation" superimposed on it resembles a seashell, and the library is a pearl perfect in its purity.

It is important that the proposed solution is easy to implement. Lamels, according to Sergei Oreshkin, are lightweight, easy to use and aesthetic material. The architects propose to make them out of frosted glass and install backlighting that will give the effect of the northern lights or pearl overflow and change depending on the weather, light level or a concert program. Light is also a wave.

The 500-seat concert hall obliges to think over the technical content. In order for the hall to host a variety of events, according to Sergei Oreshkin, a full-fledged stage box is needed: with lifting and turning mechanisms, an orchestra pit, dressing rooms, etc. The workshop's experience in creating concert halls is serious; it is enough to recall the project of Alla Pugacheva's song theater, for which A. Len collaborated with the acoustics of the Mariinsky Theater.

The architect is also sure that the building needs an underground parking - if there are sold out cars, there may be too many cars for such an area, as well as a cafe that could be used by library visitors.

Sergey Oreshkin calls for organizing an open international competition, the first stage of which should be public discussions.