The Heart of Music: Laura Yang Reimagines the Concert Hall Through Memory and Emotion
- WODACC
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
At the Future Art & Design Award 2026 Spring Season, Laura Yang received the Gold Prize in Public Architecture / Space Design for The Heart of Music: A Concert Hall Inspired by Sound Waves, a project that transforms personal memory into spatial experience.
Inspired by a childhood visit to Royal Albert Hall, the design moves beyond architectural imitation to capture atmosphere, warmth, and emotional resonance. Through flowing forms inspired by sound waves and carefully imagined spatial rhythm, the work reflects how architecture can preserve not only physical structure, but also feeling and memory.
I was thinking about how music moves in the air.
It doesn’t stay still — it flows and spreads.
So I made a concert hall with curves, and the sphere is where the music starts.
When I was designing the building that connects to the entrance, I imagined music flowing around it. The curved shape around the structure is like when the music comes back to you.
When I made the big sphere, I thought it looked like the heart of music. So I placed it in the middle to make it the heart of the building.
Before entering the main hall, you first walk through a smaller sphere. That idea came from my memory of visiting Royal Albert Hall for the first time in London. I felt overwhelmed, so I designed the entrance so that people can already feel the music when they walk inside.
Interview
Q1. What initially inspired this project?
Laura:
What inspired me to create this model was a special memory of when my mom took me to the Royal Albert Hall to listen to an opera.
I felt overwhelmed in a good way. There were soft lights shining through the ceiling, and I remember a gentleman selling ice cream on the red carpeted stairs, which made me feel warm and cozy.
When I created this model, I wanted to recreate that same warm feeling.
Q2. What was the most exciting or most challenging aspect of bringing this work to life?
Laura:
The most challenging part of making this model was trying to recreate the feeling I had when I visited the concert hall, without simply copying what I saw.
Instead, I tried to be creative and express the feeling in my own way.
The more I worked on it, the more it came to life.
In the end, it felt less like a cardboard model and more like the memories I had of being in London.
Q3. How was your experience taking part in the Future Art & Design Award?
Laura:
Taking part in the Future Art & Design Award was a very exciting and meaningful experience.
I felt happy and proud to be able to share my ideas with people around the world.
It also helped me become more confident in expressing my creativity and thoughts.
I hope I can continue to explore more ideas in the future.
Editor’s Note
In The Heart of Music, Laura Yang reminds us that architecture is not only about structure—it is also about memory, atmosphere, and emotional connection.
Rather than reproducing a concert hall literally, the work captures the feeling of being there: warmth, wonder, and the quiet intimacy of shared cultural experience. Through imagination and personal reflection, the project transforms architecture into an emotional landscape shaped by sound, light, and remembrance.
Follow Laura's Creation Journey
"I enjoy creating designs inspired by music, space, and imagination.
I will continue to develop more projects and share them in the future."
-- Laura
