Ark Nova - mobile concert hall

Japanese metabolist Arata Isozaki and Indian-born sculptor Anish Kapoor have joined forces to design the world's first inflatable concert hall. The initiative for the construction was made by Isozaki's long-time friend Michael Haefliger, who is the organizer of the music festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. The structure was created as a tribute to the victims of the devastating earthquake on March 11, 2011, in northeastern Japan's Tōhoku region. Alongside Isozaki and Kapoor, Japanese acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota and London stage specialist David Staples also contributed to the final design. The easily constructible and collapsible mobile concert hall hosted benefit concerts to support those affected by the natural disaster. The concert tour began in the autumn of 2013 in the Japanese city of Matsushima.
A similar traversable dark purple balloon called Leviathan was designed by Kapoor for the Monumenta 2011 exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. The mobile concert hall is a slightly modified and smaller version of the Paris installation. The pneumatic structure, coated with PVC, measures 18x29x26 meters. A cushion hovers above the stage, helping not only with the illumination of the hall but also with directing sound within the inflatable space. For more demanding performances, acoustician Toyota prepared a lining of wooden panels that can organically connect with Kapoor's sculpture. All costs for acquiring Ark Nova, which amounted to 5 million euros, were covered by sponsorship donations.