The
Philips Pavilion was a World's Fair pavilion designed for
Expo '58Expo 58, also known as the Brussels World’s Fair, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling or Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles, was held from 17 April to 19 October 1958...
in
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium...
by the office of
Le CorbusierCharles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and also painter, who is famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called Modern architecture or the International Style...
. The principal designer was
Iannis XenakisIannis Xenakis was a Greek composer, music theorist and architect. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
, who was also an experimental composer.
Commissioned by
PhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , most commonly known as Philips, is a Dutch electronics company.Philips is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. In 2007, its sales were €26.79 billion...
, an electronics company based in the Netherlands, the pavilion was designed to house a multimedia spectacle that celebrated postwar technological progress.
Le CorbusierCharles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and also painter, who is famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called Modern architecture or the International Style...
's vision was a
Poème électroniquePoème électronique is a piece of electronic music by composer Edgard Varèse. Varèse composed the piece with the intention of creating a liberation between sounds and as a result uses noises not usually considered "musical" throughout the piece...
("electronic poem") consisting of an innovative musical score by
Edgard VarèseEdgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
and a photomontage combining images of primitive art with scenes of nuclear war and urban rebirth.
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The
Philips Pavilion was a World's Fair pavilion designed for
Expo '58Expo 58, also known as the Brussels World’s Fair, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling or Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles, was held from 17 April to 19 October 1958...
in
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium...
by the office of
Le CorbusierCharles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and also painter, who is famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called Modern architecture or the International Style...
. The principal designer was
Iannis XenakisIannis Xenakis was a Greek composer, music theorist and architect. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
, who was also an experimental composer.
Commissioned by
PhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , most commonly known as Philips, is a Dutch electronics company.Philips is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. In 2007, its sales were €26.79 billion...
, an electronics company based in the Netherlands, the pavilion was designed to house a multimedia spectacle that celebrated postwar technological progress.
Le CorbusierCharles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and also painter, who is famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called Modern architecture or the International Style...
's vision was a
Poème électroniquePoème électronique is a piece of electronic music by composer Edgard Varèse. Varèse composed the piece with the intention of creating a liberation between sounds and as a result uses noises not usually considered "musical" throughout the piece...
("electronic poem") consisting of an innovative musical score by
Edgard VarèseEdgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
and a photomontage combining images of primitive art with scenes of nuclear war and urban rebirth. The plan of the pavilion was conceived as a "stomach": visitors would enter through curved corridor, stand in a central chamber for the eight-minute presentation, and exit out the other side.
Because the interior of the Philips Pavilion was experienced in the dark, its architectural form is principally understood from the exterior. The pavilion is a cluster of nine hyperbolic paraboloids, composed asymmetrically to create dynamically-angled contours and constructed out of prestressed concrete. Steel tension cables on the exterior give the pavilion its signature reticulated appearance. According to Xenakis, the idea of using curved surfaces composed of straight lines was inspired by his composition
MetastasisMetastasis, also Metastaseis, is an orchestral work for 61 musicians by Iannis Xenakis. His first major work, it was written in 1953-54 after his studies with Olivier Messiaen and is 8 minutes in length...
, premiered in 1955.