House of music

Intro

The House of Music is meant as an extracurricular opportunity for the users aged from 15-16 and up; who need space and also equipment for musical exploration and rehearsals. The building is also meant for schools and institutions in the local area, i.e. for school choirs, a music school, afterschool programs, etc.

Spatial program

At least one of the rooms should be meant for larger orchestras such as jazz bands, brass bands and the like. These groups bring their own equipment, but need rooms with good acoustics for their musical development.

The House of Music is an addition to the existing church of St. Jakob, but in way that leaves most of the interior and most of the function of the church unaltered. There is no loss of the space used weekly for church ceremonies. The church is the most popular church in the Østerbro section of Copenhagen. and is frequently filled for weddings and baptisms.

In front of the church and the House of Music, in the existing space, a smaller stage will be built for smaller outdoors concerts. The stage and the entrance for the House of Music is part of the same add-on.

The stage will be able to show what happens inside and will work as a filter between the busy and loud street Østerbrogade, the quiet of the church, and the musicality of the House of Music.

By establishing an independent entrance to the House of Music, the separation of the two functions becomes clearer: church – and rooms for music; This means that the two functions can be used separately without major overlapping.

Music as an architectural element

Churches are traditionally know for their architectural rhythm and a composition that is very methodical and regularly, for instance, the use of a main axis, in much the same way as much music is built on the repetition of patterns and rhythms. As with music, there are constantly small variations and syncopations happening, which are the parts that make the space interesting and playful.

A theme, both for the new function that I add to the church, and in the way I work with the building, is sound and music, Meant as the interchangeable composition between rhythm patterns, and the unexpected and crooked.

I work with sound and rhythm, both as sound and acoustics, but also as part of the architecture; sound and music as a graphical interpretation and visualization with its rhythms, compositions, patterns, and the unexpected and playful.