soma: music pavilion - salzburg biennale 2011

a temporary music pavilion for the salzburg biennale by soma
all images courtesy soma


austrian firm soma has designed a temporary music pavilion for the salzburg biennale,
a festival that will take place for the second time in march 2011. the biennale’s
program focuses on current international developments in contemporary music
and spans from music theater and concerts to film screenings, multimedia productions
and interdisciplinary performative projects that cross borders between visual art and music.

soma’s proposal was chosen as the first prize winner in an open two-stage competition in october 2010.
the production of the pavilion has already started and the structure will be fully erected in march 2011
for a period of 3 months, housing various events like performances, video screenings and exhibitions.
during the next ten years it will be used by the city of salzburg for various art events.





the main design intent was to create a recognizable presence for contemporary art and music
within salzburg, a city that is predominantly known for classical music. the pavilion will attract passer-bys
and tourists, encouraging them to enter and inform themselves about the activities of the festival.

the pavilion’s structure creates oscillating spatial effects by arraying a simple element,
a 2 meter long aluminium profile. a script generates layers of crossing sticks along a guiding
surface by creating random angles, preventing repetition. the scripted variations of
the structure are simultaneously optimized with the help of genetic algorithms. out of this
multitude of potential solutions a congruence of the architectural design intend and structural
performance is achieved through combination, selection and mutation over many generations.
the result is an optimized solution within set architectural parameters that is based on
a minimized amount of sticks and shows an emergent load bearing behavior.

the pavillon can be divided into individual segments to adapt to different locations.
the adjustable floor as well as the removable interior membrane heighten the flexibility of use.



interior



interior



diagram use



section view



section view






ground plan



structure detail


genetic algorithims





project info:
architect: soma / vienna
team: alex matl, johan tali, karin dobbler
lighting concept: podpod, vienna
structure: bollinger+grohmann ingeneure, frankfurt and vienna
client:  austrian state of salzburg
user: salzburg biennale
completion: march 2011
capacity: 150 square meter, audience of 80 people and stage
building costs: 250.000 euro