KT Listening Room by MAT Studio and Elastik

Designed especially for Tokyo Designers Week 2008 by MAT Studio & Elastik Architecture, KT: The Listening Room is an experiment in the acoustics of private space, with the intent of avoiding the city’s stimulating visuals.

MAT Studio & Elastik took inspiration from a previous assignment based on creative director Lou Weis’ research into Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder Cycle, in order to create a “secluded but extremely high quality listening experience” within a customised shipping container.

The KT listening room endeavours to create a personal audio experience in a private space. Inside the room is a circle of speakers that is focally oriented toward the listener’s sofa. This circle of speakers is formed by CNC-cut fiberboard panels and compressed polyester foam panels. The designers hoped to create a “spatial sensation that is in-between the notion of the concert hall and the iPod headphone.” The acoustic design of the room is based on principles of the soundproofing, reflectivity, rigidity and channelling of the reverberation.