Located in a forest of large pine trees next to the Baltic Sea, the new building for the Arvo Pärt Centre designed by NietoSobejano Arquitectos, acording architects, suggests a dialogue between architecture, music and landscape.
The Arvo Pärt Centre was founded in 2010 in order to keep alive the creative legacy of Arvo Pärt, considered one of the most important living contemporary composers.
The official inauguration of the new centre was celebrated with a concert on October 13, 2018, with the presence of Arvo Pärt, the President and authorities of the Baltic country, the Ambassador of Spain, and numerous international personalities of culture.
The Arvo Pärt Centre was founded in 2010 in order to keep alive the creative legacy of Arvo Pärt, considered one of the most important living contemporary composers.
The official inauguration of the new centre was celebrated with a concert on October 13, 2018, with the presence of Arvo Pärt, the President and authorities of the Baltic country, the Ambassador of Spain, and numerous international personalities of culture.
Originating in a geometric pattern of pentagonal coutyards, the building seeks a balance between the intimacy of the work of Arvo Pärt and the serene beauty of the magnificent natural environment. A large zinc roof unifies the whole integrating itself into the landscape, housing archive spaces, library, administration, exhibitions and a concert hall. The outer perimeter is treated as a filter of thin circular columns that merge with the surrounding pines. A slender helical tower rises above the trees to allow views of the sea from above.
In 2014, an international competition was organized for its new building, in which the project by Nieto Sobejano was chosen as the winner among a shortlist of twenty other architects, including Coop Himmelb (L) Au (Austria), Claudio Silvestrin (Great Britain), Jensen & Skodvin (Norway), Office Keers / van Severen (Belgium), Rick Joy (USA) and Zaha Hadid (Great Britain).
Description of project by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos
The Arvo Pärt Centre has been designed as a place for concentration and study, a space conceived in order to keep the creative legacy of the great Estonian composer alive. Set in a landscape of great beauty, in the middle of a dense forest of tall pines, the design originates from a geometric pattern formed by pentagonal patios. Variations of the size and position of the same generate spatial sequences that configure the different areas of the plan. The interior space is structured around a wall—a boundary within whose thickness are housed much of the facilities, in addition to serving as a dividing element between the public and private areas of the building. In the exterior, a single element highlights the architectural proposal: a large roof conceived as a folded platform to adapt to the different heights required in the interior.
The facades are treated as a filter defined by a series of thin circular columns that make up the supporting structure of the roof. The greater or lesser density in the arrangement of the pillars allows for alternate areas of great transparency with others more protected from the natural light. A slender helical observation tower and a small chapel inserted in one of the patios, complete a project in which music, landscape and architecture come into resonance
