At Leimert Park, African American drummers, singers and other musicians preferred to gather in small groups and perform in a casual and dynamic way, but their lack of static performance spaces led to the decay of various music types and the move-out of the younger generation. The new open-air conservatory maintains the distinguished local atmosphere that multiple genres of music allow performers to feed off each other and trigger new imagination. It particularly values the rhythm and positive energy of local African drum circles to generate circular acoustic voids and acoustic circulations. 

Echo of African Drums

A Music Center Redefining Performer-Audience and Performer-Performer Relations

Spring 2020 @ USC

Los Angeles, California

The project is defining dynamic performer-performer and performer-audience relationships. It contrives a way that music could be embedded naturally into people’s daily life by establishing one-to-one relationships between musical atmospheres and local community programs. It particularly values the rhythm and positive energy of local African drum circles to generate circular acoustic voids and acoustic circulations. New intervened arts, sports and education spaces were interconnected with performance voids to promote a multilayered music oasis with visual, acoustic and interactive engagements. Minimizing the spatial scale between people and the stage spiritually tied the musician and audience while performing.

The project particularly values the African Drum Circle tradition to bring the language into the building. The design of outdoor spaces expresses veneration towards the pioneer jazz musician in Leimert Park, Billy Higgins. The rhythm of funnel-like raised stages overlapping with suncken plazas in fact mimics Higgins' unique way of organizing his drum set. The upper circular spaces refer to the cymbals, while the lower elements become tom-toms and drums. The spiritual connection is built by bounding musicians and people who don't know much about music. There's a camaraderie that different genres of music reach harmony in the new music oasis of positive energy.

African American Drum Circles