The Sound Pavillion of the Laberinto de las Artes is an architectonic and audio intervention constructed on a site where military barracks once stood. The existing L-shaped stone wall, measuring 22 meters long and turning the corner for 3 meters, is mirrored by a new stone wall, delimiting a rectangular enclosure housing a tree and vegetation. A 6 x 12-meter wood-beam roof with a steel frame rests above the stone walls creating a resting place and providing shelter from the intense sun of San Luis Potosí. A pair of exposed concrete benches sits on a raised platform that floats above the ground. The new stone wall articulates the difference between contemporary and existing with an exposed concrete base built with 10 cm-wide wood-slat formwork. At a certain point, the new wall floats above an existing wall that extends 200m beyond the intervention. The masonry walls, inhibiting panoramic views to the surroundings are perforated with hollow steel tubes of varying diameters and placed at heights between 1.10m and 1.80m, creating portals through which to ponder the ruins and surrounding environment.
With regards to the audio piece, as San Luis Potosí is a city with a semi-desert climate, we were interested in working with the sounds of regional animals, in particular birds. Our intention is to invite children and the general public to this museum to sit, to find shelter and enter into a state of contemplation, in a state of listening, listening not only to the audio piece, but also to the sounds of the Tangamanga Park that, at certain times of day, invade the pavilion (particularly at dawn and dusk). Our intent is that the pavilion can host various sound artists from Mexico and other countries of the world and become a space for video projections and electronic and acoustic music concerts.
