“Soundbridge”, Seattle Symphony’s Music Discovery Center
client: The Seattle Symphony
location: Seattle, WA – at Benaroya Hall | size: 2,300 sq ft | opened: 2001
“Soundbridge” is an interactive and interpretive setting for the exploration, creation, and understanding of symphonic music. The intent was to make symphonic music accessible to a diverse and inclusive (often new) audience for the symphony. Mindy and her team at Lehrman Cameron Studio developed and designed all interior elements and exhibitions.
Exhibits deal with music theory, sections of the orchestra, science of sound, musicians, composing, and conducting. The main challenge was to satisfy multiple, potentially competing, functional requirements in a small space. There is a performance/workshop space, hands-on exhibitry with touchable and playable instruments, a “listening bar”, and visitor services, tied together by sophisticated computer, audio/visual, and telecommunication systems, all within an acoustically controlled interior.
For Mindy, an important aspect of the design was that there would be representatives of people from a range of races, and genders. Several symphonic musicians were interviewed and filmed to beckon at each of several “Meet the Musician” stations so that visitors can immediately see and meet artists with whom they may relate.
LCS worked with Partners in Design on the graphics and Butler Robbins Alliance on lighting design. (Many photos on this site are © Lara Swimmer, 2001.)
This is one of the coolest places for children in all of Seattle… – A Parent’s Guide to Seattle, by Tom Hobson