New York-based practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) has unveiled its first conceptual design for "a world-class concert hall" for the London Symphony Orchestra and Guildhall School of Music & Drama, which is known as the Centre for Music London, as part of a progress update on their plans for the proposed new building. 

The commission of DS+R was announced in 2017 and the first conceptual images have been released for the new building. The first images show that the building will be built from different forms of shifted platforms that make the building itself. Its orange-colored floor plates are arranged in different layouts as the building rising and the whole structure will mark the building and a new landmark.

Video courtesy of DS+R

This update follows the recent news that the City of London Corporation has backed the next phase of work by providing £2.49 million for the three partners to undertake further design development, and to progress fundraising, business modelling and capital funding plans.

Centre for Music Entry Plaza

Named The Centre for Music, the new building is conceived as a world-class venue for performance and education across all musical genres, harnessing the power of three internationally recognised cultural organisations - the Barbican, LSO and Guildhall School - to inspire a new generation with a love of music. 

The Centre will include a world class concert hall and superb spaces for performance, education and rehearsal. It would, above all, be a place for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience the joy of making-music first hand.

Centre for Music Concert Hall

The concept designs, developed by lead architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, demonstrate the potential to deliver this landmark new building on the current Museum of London site.

"We want to unlock the urban potential of the Centre for Music's site at the southern tip of the Barbican by reclaiming the roundabout for the public realm, where the car’s isolating effects are keenly felt today. A vital public space seamlessly connects to the foyer and extends a welcome to everyone, with or without a performance ticket," said Elizabeth Diller, Founding Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

"The foyer would be abuzz day and night, filled with activity and glimpses into the inner life of the Hall. We imagine a concert hall for the 21st century that embraces both a bespoke and a loose fit approach: tailored for exceptional symphonic sound, yet agile enough to accommodate creative work across disciplines and genres," she added.

Centre for Music Coda

Alongside creating an outstanding new building for London and the UK, the designs propose reimagining and transforming the layout and public realm of the current Museum of London site, creating open, welcoming and traffic free public spaces, while also linking to the Barbican Estate’s Highwalk network.

Centre for Music Studio

The proposed Centre for Music site, which has been made available in principle by the City of London Corporation, sits on a key cultural axis in the capital, linking north from Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral and between two major new Elizabeth Line stations. 

Centre for Music Concert Hall Education Pod

The realisation of Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s concept designs would create an iconic new gateway to the City of London’s emerging Culture Mile, drawing visitors into an area that is set to be transformed over the next decade and beyond through new transport hubs, outdoor programming and major enhancements to streets and wider public realm that link the area’s existing and planned world-class cultural destinations.

Centre for Music Concert Hall

Diller Scofidio + Renfro's The Shed is set to be opened to the public on April 5, 2019 on Manhattan's west side where the High Line meets Hudson Yards. DS+R was also commissioned to renovate MIT's historic warehouse to serve as a new home for the MIT School of Architecture and Planning and a campus-wide makerspace run by Project Manus.

All images courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro

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