Opening soon on the Lower East Side is Stylus, the listening room to end all listening rooms. Designed by O'Neill Rose Architects, Stylus is a private members’ club for those who love vinyl, with two bespoke listening rooms, along with a recording studio, salons and dining area. The culinary programme is led by acclaimed Michelin Star-winning chef Anita Lo, adding up to a tasty menu of sonic-driven spaces.
A render of the façade of Stylus on the Lower East Side
According to architect Devin O’Neill, the project is about ‘exploring listening as a spectrum of experience. [I was interested in] how architecture can shape not just sound, but the way we physically and psychologically receive it.’ The two listening rooms have very different characters, ‘one deeply insular, the other open and connected,’ in O’Neill’s words.
A render showing the entrance to Stylus
The first is called Subliminal. ‘Conceived as an isolation chamber for sound,’ this is a subterranean space that seeks to emphasise the physiological response to sound. ‘We assembled a multidisciplinary team of acoustical engineers, scientists, lighting designers, speaker sculptors, interior designers, and furniture makers so that each voice could be embedded within a single, unified space,’ says O’Neill.
A cross-section through the building, showing the basement Subliminal listening room
Subliminal is isolated and womb-like. Thick masonry walls are coated with insulation to keep the sound in, along with absorptive interior finishes that dampen reflections and any natural reverb. The sound system is a bespoke assemblage by OJAS, Devon Turnbull’s, including turntable, amplifier and a pair of mighty MTM speakers and the 400-pound OJAS Super Sub subwoofer. This required the installation of a special steel substructure.
A render of the DJ station in one of the main spaces at Stylus
All this can be experienced whilst reclining on a custom installation by Paulin, Paulin, Paulin, featuring Pierre Paulin’s legendary Dune Sofa, chosen following a meeting between O’Neill and Pierre’s son, Benjamin. ‘The Dune sofa perfectly supports the sound scape experience of Subliminal where shoes are left at the door,’ the architect explains. Above the Dune is a light installation by Sabine Marcelis, and other fittings and fixtures include vintage lighting selected by Selene Privitera and Paolo Matera.
Nothing has been overlooked. ‘Even the air is considered – continuously circulating through a concealed mechanical system integrated into the furniture – so that nothing interrupts the continuity of the experience,’ O’Neill explains.
The main space also includes speakers by Devon Turnbull
The second listening space is located on the fourth floor. Called Suite 48, it is designed to feel part of the cityscape, with an adjoining roof terrace. ‘Unlike traditional listening rooms, which are typically sealed and introspective, Suite 48 is designed to maintain a connection to the city,’ says O’Neill. The multifunctional room was inspired the classic Victorian cabinet of curiosity, with bespoke joinery combining speaker and equipment mounting with niches for books and objects. The room can also double-up as a bedroom.
A render of the fourth floor Suite 48 listening room at Stylus
The flooring is the same brick used in the entrance courtyard, a material that carries through onto the terrace. The wood used for the cabinetry is from Dinesen’s new Layers range, the first time this engineered wood has been used in the US.
O’Neill points out a personal connection to Suite 48. ‘Growing up in Lower Manhattan, rooftops were where we gathered in the summer,’ he recalls, ‘[we were] surrounded by the sights and sounds of the city yet removed from its intensity. Suite 48 is an attempt to recreate that condition: a protected, warm environment that remains open to the energy of the city, designed for time spent with others.’
A rendered view of the main space looking back towards the DJ booth
The technical specification includes speakers from Shivas Howard Brown’s Friendly Pressure studio, along with Friendly Pressure’s FP 401 turntable and a Soulnote A2 amplifier and Node Icon Reference quality music streamer. The whole system was developed in collaboration with Martin Meyer Nielsen of Danish cabinet-makers Ocular, a long-term collaborator with O'Neill Rose Architects.
The DJ station in the main space at Stylus
Stylus bills itself as a ‘sanctuary dedicated to the ephemeral arts.’ Scheduled to open later this year, this ‘acoustic salon’ wants to reinvigorate the member’s club model by operating as a ‘hybrid for-profit/nonprofit’, the idea being that members support commissioning and programming in the new spaces.
These two listening rooms might be diametrically different in approach, but they’re unified by the Stylus ethos, a place where people come together to shape the conversation around sound, music, audio and performance.
More information on Stylus at Stylus.nyc, @Stylusnyc
ONeillRoseArchitects.com, @Oneill_Rose_Architects