Sound for Architecture in Doha – 2019
National Museum of Qatar
Star architect Jean Nouvel was commissioned to build the new National Museum of Qatar, which opened its doors in March 2019. Inspired by the local desert rose, he designed a gigantic building complex made of 539 curved disks. On an exhibition surface area of 8000 square metres, the museum is home to a total of twelve topical galleries that take visitors on a journey through Qatar’s history.
Various film directors were commissioned to create a multidimensional film for each gallery respectively. Such as, for instance, the director Abderrahmane Sissako who addresses life in the desert at the ’Life in al Barr‘ gallery, its beauty but also its difficulties and hardships. Or the artist Doug Aitken who staged a spectacular film about Qatar’s source of wealth, i.e. its oil production.
Hired as audio consultants by the National Museum, Idee und Klang Audio Design created the sound scenography – from the planning of the sound hardware to the definition of the sound aesthetics and the production and final mix of the soundtracks.
In order to be able to create an immersive sound experience in such an open and yet complex architecture, the entire building was recreated as a virtual acoustic model. Consequently, the 308 speakers could be optimally planned for each gallery and thereupon were invisibly integrated into the architecture.
With the help of a style guide, the audio content of the films as well as the interactive installations were defined in order to not affect one another. By means of a dedicated 3D audio software each of the films was pre-mixed at our studios together with the directors, composers and sound designers, and finalized for integration into the room acoustics at the museum afterwards.
Find out more about simulated realities and interactive audio
Watch full documentary here.
Credits
Museum: National Museum of Qatar
Client: MEJV (MAN / EMPTY Joint Venture)
Architecture: Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Acoustic model: WSDG Basel
Technical planning: Dean Winkler WCI
Projection mapping: RES
Audio installation: Techno Q
Speakers and audio server: Meyer Sound
Film production: Doha Film Institute
Directors: Christophe Cheysson, Jananne Al-Ani, Abderrahmane Sissako, Mira Nair, Peter Webber, Doug Aitken, John Sanborn, Jacques Perrin
Sound Designers & Composers: Jean Poinsignon, René-Marc BINI, Jerome Wiciak, Andy Cowton, Martin Wheeler, Jon Kane, Tom Efringer, Stratis Skandalakis, Austin Meredith, Christen Lien, Adam Moseley, Greg Johnson
Photography: RES, Antonio Pagano
