Listening Shell – Royal Festival Hall

Berio Lounge at RFH Clore Ballroom, 2004
Commissioned by South Bank Centre
Designed by Dody Nash in collaboration with Julian Brown RDI
Sponsored and fabricated by DuPont™
photos © Dody Nash [1,2,4] Dee Conway [3]

Part of an installation about the Italian composer Luciano Berio, which I also designed and curated. This wonderful opportunity came about purely by chance when I was trying to figure out how to design a futuristic armchair for the installation. I worked with product designer Julian Brown RDI on shape; sound composers Sound Intermedia and later Listen Hear Sound Projects, LeadtoWill on media content (part of the V&A Listening Shell Songbook project), and DuPont on manufacture and exhibition.

This much celebrated design was subsequently exhibited at 100% Design, V&A Museum and in Paris (Designer Days), and received substantial international coverage in the design press. It was fabricated by Dupont Corian, and still stands as one of the most technically challenging projects undertaken by the Dupont Corian team; it was one of the first instances of the use of Corian as a stand-alone material in a large complex form without any kind of substructure.

Although still in consistent demand for potential exhibition abroad in places such as New York, Florence, Berlin and Prague, this first prototype, having not expected such exposure, is now in retirement until partners can be found to enable a second series to be fabricated.

the Sonic Garden intervention and the Listening Shell  demonstrate outstanding contemporary art and design practices and the most cutting-edge technologies
The Sorrell Foundation

people are not listening in a distance to a piece of music – but they are inside the sound while listening in a way with their whole body
Thomas Gerwin, Artistic Director of Klangkunstfest Mitte Festival, Berlin

“even with the technological advancements of the last 3 years, the ‘Listening Shell’ is still at the outside edge of the boundaries of what can be done with Corian.”
Nick Miles, DuPont