'Chapel of Sound': rock-shaped concert hall appears in China
OPEN has designed a concert hall that blends harmoniously into the mountain landscape
January 24, 2022
An unusual building appeared in a mountain valley two hours from Beijing, which looks more like a rock or a stone that fell from nowhere. This is the Chapel of Sound concert hall, designed by the local bureau OPEN. As conceived by the architects, the “chapel” serves not only as a space for cultural events, but also as a kind of refuge where everyone can relax and enjoy the sounds of nature.
Having started work on the project, the architects worked on how to minimize the area of the building and competently fit it into the surrounding rocky landscape. Thus, the idea was born to create a concert hall in the shape of an inverted cone and make the facade as similar as possible to the surrounding rocks – they, together with cement, were used for construction.
Inside the Chapel of Sound is a concert hall and seating for spectators, organized in the form of an amphitheater. There is a rooftop observation deck on the roof of the building, which offers amazing views of the surrounding nature and sights – for example, one of the abandoned parts of the Great Wall of China.
