Rohre / Tubes – A Compositional, Architectural Project

studio-klangraum, Basel, Switzerland


Based on the musical idea of a space made of tubes, the renowned Geneva-based architectural duo Made In – in close collaboration with stage designer Peter Affentranger, composers Nicolas Buzzi, Emilio Guim, Beat Gysin, Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, Germán Toro-Pérez, Denis Schuler and musicians Jens Bracher, Anne Brise, Jeanne Larrouturou, Stephen Menotti and Shuyue Zhao – will design an auditorium entitled "Rohre" (tubes). However, its walls will actually reflect very little sound. Seen from the inside, the space boundary is formed by a collection of holes. Nevertheless, the "Rohre" auditorium is an enveloping space, a kind of pavilion, a highly visible attraction that arouses curiosity. In "Rohre" – and this is where the musical part comes in – tubes are not just the building material. They can also ring out in very different ways turning the space into a musical instrument. This gives the "Rohre" auditorium a dual role: firstly, as a performance space that is host to (other) instruments and, secondly, as an instrument when the tubes, themselves, are made to ring out, thereby creating a sound installation. In this ambiguity lies a compositional challenge, because here composing also means planning a spatial choreography. The EvS Music Foundation is supporting the composition commissions issued to the Greek-born composer and sound artist Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri and to Germán Toro-Pérez. Toro-Pérez was born in Bogotá and since 2007 has been director of the ICST Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology and lecturer in Electroacoustic Composition at the Zurich University of the Arts.

After "Chronos" (2015) and "Gitter" (2017), "Rohre" is the third project in the "Leichtbautenreihe" (Lightweight Construction Series), which uses an artistic approach to explore the spatiality of music or – conversely – an auditory-musical perception of architecture. In six projects, the collective investigates the extent to which music can be understood not only as temporal but also as spatial art, the extent to which understanding of this kind is fruitful, and whether (and how) it communicates itself to the audience. A final book project is planned.


September 15–22, 2019
ZeitRäume Basel, Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland

November 17–20, 2019
Tage für Neue Musik, Großmünster, Zurich, Switzerland

May 2020
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland


Further Information:
studio-klangraum.ch