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After four years of construction, the "House of Music" in Aalborg, Denmark was ceremoniously opened on 29 March 2014 by the Danish Queen Margrethe II. The House of Music in Aalborg extends the concept of space as liquid box that combines cultural and educational functions in an open system enabling synergy and exchange between the public, artists, students and educators. The project has been an extraordinary opportunity for Poltrona Frau to demonstrate its ability to converge design and function and bring to life the vision of this very special project. The cultural centre was designed by the Viennese architectural studio Coop Himmelb(l)au as a joint school and concert hall: its hybrid structure includes public and performance spaces and dedicated infrastructures. "The idea behind the building can already be read from the outer shape. The school embraces the concert hall," explained Wolf D. Prix, design principal and CEO of Coop Himmelb(l)au. Geometric and strict shapes for the exterior combined with the dynamic and sinuous forms of the internal concert hall: this is the architecture studied by Coop Himmelb(l)au to serve as a resonance body for creativity in the House of Music. “We are proud to take part in this prestigious project”, said Kurt Wallner, Managing Director of the Poltrona Frau Group Contract Division. An important contract both in terms of numbers - 1300 Pitagora chairs supplied - and in terms of prestige: another international project realized with one of the most influential and dynamic architecture and design studios in the world. The large audience attested to the interest in the talk given by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw and Andrew Wally on the relationship between architecture and design on 9 April last. Poltrona Frau returned to the Fonderia Napoleonica for the Fuori Salone reception. Here below is an extract of the lively interview with Nicola Leonardi, Chief Editor of the well estlabished architecture magazine “The Plan”. NL: I would like to better understand the identity of Grimshaw Architects. On the opening page of your website 3 words seem to summarise your vision of architecture: innovation, sustainability, craftsmanship. This is quite a program. What do these words represent for you and your approach to architecture? NG: Innovation is related to the new solutions that we always offer our clients. They know that sustainability is important in the modern world and there’s no need to say anything more about craftsmanship: we are in a magic building, there are so many wonderful pieces of ancient machinery and we are sitting with our friend Poltrona Frau Contract. NL: Let’s turn to your website, and I quote “the goal at Grimshaw Architects is to design buildings and environments that work. To inspire people and transform communities”. How do you deal with such a responsibility? AW: We are interested in everything that affects people on a larger scale, such as stations, big infrastructures, bus stops and bicycle stands. These are things that everyone uses, that make a city work and that touch everyone's lives. We've recently carried out new projects such as bus stations and airports around the world and we are really satisfied to think just how many million people use one of our buildings every day. NL: Back to your industrial design program, the creation of industrial design elements, to quote the name of the exhibition, is critical to many of your architectural projects while others are standalone projects for industrial design pieces. How does Grimshaw Architects approach collaboration with the design industry? AW: We like to visit production facilities and factories and understand how things are made. If you work in collaboration with manufacturers you can actually take the potential of the design so much further. I think this is the route of our enjoyment. NL: The elements in the exhibition show your history from the very beginning to nowadays. Grimshaw’s finest industrial design work is done in collaboration with Poltrona Frau. What was the background to this exhibition? And what message do you want to pass on to our visitors that are enjoying the opening today? AW: When we were first invited by Kurt Wallner to take part in this Salone we were really intrigued by the idea of exploring the connection between the big concept of architecture and the small details of each project. And we think there’s a link: when you look at the details, so even in the smallest pieces, you can capture the essence of what the bigger architecture concept was. So we selected the models we would show. We designed all the moving boxes and physically built them. NG: We would like to thank everybody and Poltrona Frau in particular for this wonderful evening and for being such an optimistic and fascinating partner in our industrial design enterprise. Elements was one of the 2014 Fuori Salone fringe events, a thematic exhibition held by Poltrona Frau and Grimshaw Architects. The design talk and cocktail reception took place at the scenic Fonderia Napoleonica Eugenia space in Milan, with a total of 400 guests. Elements was divided into 6 focus projects and brought together some of Grimshaw Architects’ finest work. This was showcased through photographs, drawings, prototypes and structural details in an installation that also included 3D models that can be viewed using the special Elements app. Poltrona Frau has teamed up with Grimshaw Architects for two projects on display in Elements: the "Empac Conference Center” in Troy, New York and the “Phillip Frost Museum of Science” in Miami. For this latter project Grimshaw designed both the building’s exterior and interior. The museum will also house a planetarium with 250 Planetarium Chairs. With a mixed structure in wood and metal, the chair will be made with different configurations to ensure that visitors attending the presentations at the museum space have the best user experience. Once again Poltrona Frau is an active participant in the creative development of a product designed by an international architectural firm, taking the philosophy behind a seat with complex engineering features and creating a unique and innovative product that ensures perfect comfort. The event has been sponsored by 01 ARCHITECTURE 02 DESIGN 03 LIFE & PEOPLE Fuori salone 2014 Elements Aalborg House of Music: playing with the senses Q&A Sir Nicholas Grimshaw news JUNE.14 / ISSUE #14
