Music and architecture are inextricably entwined. One can inform the other. As an architect, I have always felt more inspired by DJs and producers than master builders. While other creative industries, such as fashion, have far more confidence in their connection to music, the link with architecture is less defined.
This might seem surprising when you consider the way that our eyes and ears work in tandem in physical spaces. It’s a relationship that means a room or building can shape your appreciation of a piece of music and, in return, influence the way that you appreciate design.
At Soda, the architecture practice that I co-founded with Laura Sanjuan, many of our projects feature social spaces, particularly those geared around hospitality or work. These settings contain multiple ingredients that contribute to the atmosphere – and music is a key one.
Take the Sessions Arts Club in London, a restaurant that I set up with painter Jonny Gent in an 18th-century courthouse. We curated a playlist with Rob Burn, from recording studio Ten87, which manifested our sonic ideas about the mutability of a building’s atmosphere.
The restaurant has two distinct personalities, which are split between lunch and dinner service. The daytime is soundtracked by “9”, a delicate piano piece by the British multidisciplinary artist Duval Timothy. It works beautifully alongside the daylight streaming through the upper-level windows. By way of contrast, Steve Monite’s “Only You”, a 1980s Nigerian disco anthem, is perfect listening for a Friday night at a corner table. It has a smooth, flowing bassline that would easily back a romantic date or a more raucous night out with friends.
We’ve found that some of the most moving pairings of architecture and music are those that don’t necessarily enhance the function of a space but contrast with it. For example, as part of the London Festival of Architecture in 2018, a choir piece was specially composed for the Silver Building at the city’s Royal Docks, a brutalist former beer factory that Soda converted into creative workspaces. It was organised by producer Luke Neve and composer Benjamin Tassie, taking a poem by Annie Freud that was sung by choral group Musarc, whose polished performance was unexpected in such rough, unfinished surroundings.
The flexible workspaces that we created for The Office Group and MYO required a different approach again. Here, as part of an ongoing partnership, we thought about ways that we could use the soundtrack to strike a balance between communal and intimate spaces. We needed to ensure that the soft tones of the background music – essential for working environments – were in harmony with the material palette of natural timbers and warm colours.
We found that the music of US singer-songwriter Erykah Badu worked perfectly. There is an elegant simplicity to many of her songs – including “Incense”, a celestial number featuring a theremin and harp – that was perfect for the space.
Bearing all this in mind, it’s worth noting that there’s no formula for pairing architecture and music. Our latest office design was based on a mid-century modern aesthetic – but that doesn’t mean that you have to play jazz from the same era. No one wants that. As with most creative work, the expected can be boring. Rules are made to be broken.
