Srishty Bhavsar

One of the first buildings that caught my attention when I was younger was the Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry in downtown Los Angeles. I remembered being taken back by its cluster of large metal winged walls that stood out amongst its surrounding buildings. As I walked by the building, I noticed how whimsical, symphonic, and extravagant it was. Today, I admire how fitting these characteristics are to its function of being a hall for orchestras and bands. The building itself was designed using a C++ software package designed and used by aerospace engineers called the CATIA. Through this software, Gehry was able to achieve impeccable acoustics within the concert hall.

In 2018, the L.A Philharmonic Light show had an installation performance which transformed the facade of the Walt Disney Concert Hall at night. The installation was designed by Refik Anadol and Google Arts and Culture. Made up of deep neural connections, Anadol and Google created a data universe that translated data points from the LA Philharmonic’s digital archives into projections of light and color. The installation was designed with a parametric data sculpture approach where music was sorted into thematic compositions by machine learning algorithms. Inside the concert hall, visitors were able to interact with mirrored walls that showcased the philharmonic’s archives. Anadol’s light show is a great example of how visual generative art combined with audio and a computational structure can encapsulate a visceral and immersive experience.

Sources:

https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/building/walt-disney-concert-hall/

https://www.archdaily.com/902277/s-walt-disney-concert-hall-will-be-lit-by-algorithms-in-dream-like-light-show