Riverside public space for classical music performances and practice
Temple Heights/Music with a View by Soraya Somarathne, Studio Soraya
Set on the roof of the Temple underground station in London, the Temple Heights/Music with a View concept is an open-air performance space and bar that uses SterlingOSB Zero to form an acoustic canopy.
Soraya Somarathne aimed to create an acoustically sound performance space that is ‘dramatic and uplifting in form’. She proposes a tapering building envelope that starts off wide above the stage at the Victoria Embankment Gardens end of the site and narrows upwards towards the western end. Paid seating is arranged closest to the stage, with free seating behind that and standing room towards the bar at the rear. The audience will be able to enjoy the performance with a view of the musicians set against a background of trees in the adjacent public gardens.
The main structural frame is made of metal-braced SterlingOSB Zero, making use of the board’s high strength properties. The 84m long roof is comprised of OSB strips of different depths tailored to create a large acoustic diffuser that reduces echo and reflections of the music. The external face of the canopy is designed to diffuse noise from the traffic below.
Somarathne proposes finishing all OSB members in a protective coating to provide long-term defences against the outdoor elements. Two existing stairs will provide access to the rooftop auditorium.
In this busy riverside area she envisages this as a new public space that can be used for lunchtime and evening performances of classical music and for practice sessions by students of the nearby Department of Music, King’s College London.
‘The vision is a space which elevates its visitors to new heights musically, spatially and spiritually,’ she says.
Raise the Roof was produced in association with Norbord Europe
This year's judging process
Winner
Rooftop Refuge by Reed Watts Architects
Commended
Sterling Boarder by Nina Antin, Claire Chabrol and Sibylle Metge-Toppin
In Season – House by Alessandro Tessari