Manhattan Sound Studio
Location: Manhattan NY, Lower East Side.
Community, health, safety, and privacy: these were the keywords presented by the client for a proposed recording studio to be carved out of a Manhattan basement and cellar. Deep below the sidewalk the new double-height space will be protected in the “roots” of the city, surrounded by the stone and brick of the building’s foundations. The proposed design brings a beam of reflected sunlight from the roof and places it at the center of the studio floor, creating a natural gathering place and a center: a sunlight “hearth” to gather around. And, brightness and daylight where usually there is dark and dank.
This is accomplished with an affordable and lightweight heliostat mounted to the roof of the building: a mirror which tracks the sun and continuously reflects a column of light through a series of fixed mirrors starting at the roof and ending at the studio ceiling, where part of its beam is diffused throughout the space and the rest is bounced directly to the center of the studio floor.
Surrounding this light beam are the acoustical treatments and control spaces necessary to the facility, designed in an intentionally contrasting palette and pulled back at the edges to highlight the rough brick and stone which so strongly identify where users of the space are, snug and comfortably insulated from the intensity of the surrounding city. Acoustical treatments are proposed in a demountable configuration, allowing the room to be “tuned” to varying acoustic purposes and allowing varying perceptions of the masonry walls behind.
