Zaha Hadid Virtual Reality Group (ZHVR), a research and experimental division of Zaha Hadid Architects focusing on VR technology and complex assemblies of virtual space, has released immersive sound lounge for L-Acoustics Creations - the global leader in premium audio, collaborating with the world’s most renowned performing arts centres and music venues.

Called LOOP,  ZHVR's design will be added to L-Acoustics Creations' The Island’s signature edition and LOOP is the first collaboration between L-Acoustics Creations and ZHVR. Hadid's fluid geometry and curvy forms are quite visible on this technology to be able to be embedded seamlessly in its environment. 

L-Acoustics Creations – a division within the company – is developing sound technologies with an unrivalled sonic signature and advanced Immersive Hyperreal Sound for residential, cultural and experiential spaces. 

Originally created for professional venues, L-Acoustics’ audio solutions have been reconfigured as the Island, a personal auditorium with a multichannel platform.

Image © ZHVR

LOOP is designed with the highest resolution audio of L-Acoustics’ Immersive Sound Art (L-ISA) with ZHA’s signature design language and the studio’s ongoing development of innovative new concepts.

Image © ZHVR

Concealed beneath LOOP’s fluid exterior is an array of cutting-edge hardware and software. L-ISA Bubbles technology goes back to the fundamentals of musical reproduction by ensuring playback fully restores the richly layered, multidimensional characteristics of contemporary professional recording. Encoded in the proprietary Blu 23.1 format, BluBubbles delivers a powerful concert-level experience within a personal environment.

Image © ZHVR

Listening to faultless audio of unprecedented clarity, dynamics and realism via 24 independent channels, LOOP enables users to experience sound from the perspective of the artist or to be become totally immersed in the most realistic audio while watching a movie.

Image © ZHVR

LOOP is available in a variety finishes ranging from hand-crafted wood to carbon fibre; its detailing and selection of materials designed to provide optimal acoustic performance.

This is a pilot project of ZHVR, LOOP’s design process involved VR workflow developed by the group; from initial sketches using immersive modelling software to mixed reality simulations allowing evaluation of the design’s ergonomics and materiality. 

At any point within its development process, all iterations, including the technological collaborator’s input, could be presented to the client as immersive, high-definition VR demonstrations.

Image © ZHVR

Project facts

Project Team:
Zaha Hadid Virtual Reality (ZHVR) Group
Design team: Aleksandra Mnich, Leonid Krykhtin, Helmut Kinzler

All images © Line Creative unless otherwise stated. 

> via ZHVR