ARK NOVA Inflatable hall | Kapoor+Isozaki

ARK NOVA, an inflatable concert hall designed by Anish Kapoor and Arata Isozaki for the Lucerne Festival, brings music and hope to Matsushima, Japan a city recovering from the devastating 2011 earthquake.

To develop the event space container were invited the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, a big name in the panorama of Japanese architecture and British indian born, sculptor Anish Kapoor.

Such a union could not have other results that were not a majestic space, imposing, but at the same time simplistic, minimalist and a tremendous emotional burden. Thus arises the NEW ARK inflatable concert hall. An organic structure – where one can review some of the works of Kapoor – ballon -like architecture for its construction in light textile.

Its interior can hold up to 500 people seated in handmade furniture, with a stage to accommodate an entire orchestra or some other venues. The outer purple fabric envisions a magical interior, but the interior light variations make the sensory experience even greater. The New Ark is the way how Isozaki Kapoor wanted to bring hope and encouragement to Matsushima inhabitants in the form of music and a temporal structure, movable and sturdy.

The speed of installation of all this structure may be the ideal metaphor on how the japanese people reacted from a natural disaster or other catastrophe.