Horst Castle. Image © <a href='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Kasteel_van_Horst_-_Sint_Pieters_Rode_-_Belgica.jpg'>Francisco Conde Sánchez</a> licensed under <a href=’https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en/'>CC BY-SA 3.0</a>
Kasteel van Horst, a 17th-century castle in rural Belgium, and the raucous music festival it hosts every fall are an unlikely pair. But for the past four years, the Horst Music and Art Festival hosted at the castle just outside of Leuven, Belgium has brought together international artists, musicians, architects, and designers for a weekend of creative celebration. For the fifth and final iteration of the festival this year, Tokyo-based architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow will join the mix.
Courtesy of Atelier Bow-Wow
Invited by the Horst Festival to “create new work reflecting on the historic context of the site,” Atelier Bow-Wow has flipped the prompt on its head. Designing a stage that they describe as a “wooden box on the lake shore,” they claim its simple form will be activated as it pulses with music, “an antipode of the dead castle and the still scenery.”
Courtesy of Atelier Bow-Wow
Courtesy of Atelier Bow-Wow
Tension ropes connect walls on either side of the pavilion, creating “an immaterial roof, which seems to blend with the horizon.” The stage extends from a platform submerged in water, in turn mimicking Horst Castle itself, which appears to float atop a pond.
Courtesy of Atelier Bow-Wow
Courtesy of Atelier Bow-Wow
The Horst Music and Arts Festival will take place September 7th-9th, 2018 in Holsbeek, Belgium.
News via: Atelier Bow-Wow