21
Jan
Recreating the Philips Pavilion
Prof. Vincenzo Lombardo, from the Department of Computer Science of the University of Turin, and his team have done an extraordinary job of unearthing the secrets of the legendary Philips Pavilion.
In 1958, Philips Industries commissioned Le Corbusier to build their pavilion for the World’s Fair to be a showcase of their technology. Iannis Xenakis was working for Le Corbusier at the time and ended up designing the building as well as writing music for some of the spaces (Concret P.H.).
Le Corbusier designed the visuals for the inside and chose Edgar Varèse to create the music for the main space. It was an extremely complex installation with 350 speakers, all sorts of lights, slide and film projectors, sculpture and more. Xenakis’ music and architecture was heavily based on mathematics, especially hyperbolic paraboloid shapes.
Edgar Varèse worked in Philips new sound studio in Eindhoven with two full-time technicians to create the main musical piece. Le Corbusier worked with his firm to create the visuals.
Now, the virtual recreation by Prof. Lombardo and his team give new life to this legendary space. His site it’s well worth a (long) visit enjoying all the materials archived online.
Unbelievable but true! 
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