Project & design lead - Design Engine Architects

The Listening Project is an ambitious oral history exercise, undertaken by the BBC in conjunction with the British Library, that aims to build a sound archive of our times for future generations to hear. This was an RIBA competition.

The space needed to break down into pieces small enough to be brought into normal office buildings, through the doors and normal lifts. 

Working with an acoustician, this design sought to create an integral soundproof space, using the form and geometry of a radial structure. This allows wide compressible joints to be “pulled in” and clamped into position to create an airtight interior.

The radial shells that form the exterior envelope, form “listening niches” to allow passers by and visitors to engage in the project via built in speakers.

The pod comprises an outer ‘protection’ shell, resiliently separated from the inner ‘acoustic‘ shell, which achieves a mass/spring/mass sound insulation system.