Subway Classical Music Concert Hall

The chosen location for the Concert Hall is an unused Victorian-era train station in the Glasgow's Botanical Gardens where the serene surroundings seem ideal for classical music performances. The foyer and auditorium are connected by reopening an unused underground railway line and with the use of single-person train wagons to transport the audience from the city centre directly to the performance space. Typically, the foyer, a meeting place for the audience and a space for pre-concert performances, is placed in close proximity to the auditorium. In this design, however, the foyer is placed in a completely different public building at the city centre far away from the auditorium. In this way, an intimate relationship is created between the city and the concert hall. The foyer is meant to be a quiet place where people can relax, take a break from their busy life and enjoy small pre-concert performances and come in contact with people from different subcultures and aesthetic preferences. On a personal level, it will act as an introduction to a reassuring environment that the individual will feel safe and open to a new experience. In order to attend a performance, the individual will take the dedicated subway that leads to the underground station at the Botanical Gardens. This is a physical and psychological journey is depriving one of any previous senses and images and introduces new ones, disorient and reorient the individual to a new reality/space. Unlike the Foyer, the Concert Hall is placed in a darker environment designed to create feelings of the uncanny and safety at the same time. Deliberately the design interventions kept to a minimum in the underground station maintaining the clear leading lines of the platforms highlighting the construction of the Hall. The ceiling of the hall takes its form with an artistic interpretation of the music performed and it is constructed in a way that allows being transformed easily to reflect each new performance. All design proposals are of a non-destructive nature to respect the historical value of the space. The intention is to create a unique experience for the audience where the individual will pass through a stage of anamorphosis, a regression to the unconscious, that potentially leads to the oceanic feeling. A deep connection with the world, a feeling of awe when experiencing the performance. At the city level, this proposal could revitalize many more unused railway stations that are currently closed and create a globally unique network of underground music venues. From the colonial trade routes to the Industrial Revolution and the supply chain of World War II, transportation and railroads in and out of the city were key parts of Glasgow history. By reusing the stations as music venues, a bridge is created between Glasgow’s past and its modern reputation as a City of Music, bringing people closer to the historic sites within it.