New York design firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro has released the first concept designs for the proposed London Centre for Music, a world-class performance and music arts education facility.
Created for The Barbican, London Symphony Orchestra and Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the first concept designs have been released as part of a progress update on plan for the new proposed building. This update follows the recent news that the City of London Corporation has backed the next phase of work by providing £2.49 million for the three partners to undertake further design development, and to progress fundraising, business modelling and capital funding plans.
The Centre for Music aims to become a world-class venue for performance and education across all musical genres, harnessing the power of three internationally recognized cultural organisations - the Barbican, LSO and Guildhall School - to inspire a new generation with a love of music. The Centre would include a world class concert hall and superb spaces for performance, education and rehearsal. It would, above all, be a place for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience the joy of making-music first hand.
Alongside creating an outstanding new building for London and the UK, the designs propose reimagining and transforming the layout and public realm of the current Museum of London site, creating open, welcoming and traffic free public spaces, while also linking to the Barbican Estate’s Highwalk network.
The proposed Centre for Music site, which has been made available in principle by the City of London Corporation, sits on a key cultural axis in the capital, linking north from Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral and between two major new Elizabeth Line stations.
The realization of Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s concept designs would create an iconic new gateway to the City of London’s emerging Culture Mile, drawing visitors into an area that is set to be transformed over the next decade and beyond through new transport hubs, outdoor programming and major enhancements to streets and wider public realm that link the area’s existing and planned world-class cultural destinations.
