To call Peter Grueneisen an architect for the stars would be an understatement.
Since the early 1990s, the Swiss-born, SCI-arc-educated designer has been working with clients like Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Ice-T, Will Smith, the Dave Matthews Band and David Lynch.
His specialty? Sound studios.
A studio by Grueneisen is unlike any that’s come before it. This is an architect who recognizes the complex needs of writers, producers, engineers, mixers, and recording artists. He knows that recording an album can take weeks or months, and that collaborators need a place that technically meets their needs and is also a comfortable place to work, dine, relax, and even sleep.
“We’re dealing with artists, and it’s similar to architects – they’re people who have to get things done for a purpose,” he says. “We create space that’s conducive to their work, and that technically and ergonomically works out.”
He brings more than a little style to the spaces he designs, regarding them as architectural problems to solve, rather than simply purpose-driven.
“Before, they were designed from the inside out by sound engineers – it was a vernacular that was put together by the users,” he says. “There was a certain aesthetic from the ‘60s and ‘70s that musicians kind of wanted to have. But we wanted to go beyond that and treat it like any architectural project would be treated.”
Word got around, and soon he was designing studios for The Record Plant, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Sony Music Japan, and DreamWorks Animation.
And for good reason. A studio by Grueneisen is well thought out. He brings to the table a spatial sensibility about the way things function.
“We start questioning how things are done and look at it from the ground up – light, surfaces, materials and how things are built,” he says. “It’s a more in-depth approach than you’ll see a lot of times.”
Anyone who wants to learn more about his art and architecture is in luck. On Saturday, Oct. 18 at 11:30am, he’ll be part of a panel discussion called Rock Star Architecture: Creative Design for Recording Artists, at the WestEdge(tm) Design Fair, Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. The cost is only $20, $25 at the door.
For more information, go to http://westedgedesignfair.com.
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