The brief for this project was to propose a music school and auditoria. The site is located in Poole and was used as a car park. The project required designing with special attention to acoustics within the theatre, auditoria, recording studios and music practise rooms.
The abstract plan of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe’s Brick country House, 1923 (third image down) informed the buildings programme and divided public and educational spaces effectively, the extension of walls (with distinct paths) of descending levels thrust out into the landscape and physically cut paths directly connecting the site with other areas of cultural importance.
‘Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins’
-Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe
Everything about the structure is brick, even the paving of the landscapes and paths leading from and to the site. This served as a fitting continuation of brick from the previous map shop intervention in Poole. The consistent material selection also proved a contextual reminder of the traditional English red brick that forms the majority of the historical old part of town. In the larger scheme of Poole as a town there is a very obvious divide between the old part of town and new, a distinct lack of architectural integration. The music school structure aimed at bridging this divide both physically in the form of material and experience, the brick continuation of my projects in Poole could be part of an architectural takeover and regeneration campaign of the town, whilst the precedent of the Brick country House, 1923 lead to the apt title of the project as ‘Brick House Music’.