TAKT PROJECT designed the venue for the event SOUND DESIGN FESTIVAL in Hamamatsu 2021. Hamamatsu, known as a city of musical instruments and music, joined the UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in the field of music in December 2014. As a UNESCO City of Music, Hamamatsu explores the possibilities of sound design, in search of new possibilities for diverse sound creation practices. The SOUND DESIGN FESTIVAL is a symbol of these efforts.

 The theme for 2021 is “the forms of communication created with sound.” Communication seems to be something that cannot be visualized, but acoustic transmission is always accompanied by the vibration of a physical medium. In order to maximize the significance of the physical festival, we focused on this tangible nature of “sound” and produced a space composed of string telephones. 

Seven staircases are arranged within the space to form a circle, and six string telephone lines are placed at the top of each. The colorful strings, some as long as 30 meters, connect the phones and draw a geometric pattern that serves as a roof over the exhibition space, welcoming visitors with joyful colors. 

At the venue, the string phones invite people to enjoy communicating through sounds. The staircases act as viewing points for visitors to enjoy the sound performance unfolding before them, forming a circle like those formed spontaneously around a street musician. Beneath the 42 sound-transmitting strings, visitors meet various sound design works. Like in an arena, diverse soundscapes are brought together into the venue configured in a circle with string telephones. 

It is a space created by the transmission of sounds; a spatialization of interactions fostered by sound. The venue was a typical inorganic piece of exhibition hall architecture. Although it was a spacious 1,350 square meters, fixtures and string telephones alone were used to assemble a rich interior environment. The space was constructed without any wall or floor finishes, making it highly portable, waste-free, and economical.