Designed through a unique collaboration between sculptor Anish Kapoor, architect Arata Isozaki, and the Lucerne Festival, Ark Nova is the first large-scale infalatable concert hall ever constructed. Conceived over a year ago, the mobile structure will open to the public on October 14th and will be host to concerts, events, and workshops in tsunami-damaged areas around the country.

kapoor-1 kapoor-2 kapoor-3 kapoor-8 kapoor-4 kapoor-5 kapoor-6 kapoor-7Photos on their facebook page reveal what the interior and exterior of the completed structure looks like. Arc Nova takes about 2 hours to inflate and holds roughly 500 people. The wooden benches were completed during a workshop in August, in which volunteers showed up and used wood from tsunami-damaged cedar trees at Zuiganji Temple in Matsushima.

In speaking to the Telegraph, Anish Kapoor said: “Ark Nova is the first mobile inflatable concert hall. We felt that the site in Matsushima, amidst the destruction of the tsunami, needed a temporary structure and an inflatable seemed to be appropriate.”

The concert hall was established in collaboration with organizers of the Swiss Lucerne Festival. “The images of 11 March, 2011 have left their mark on all of us,” said the organizers. “With the Lucerne Festival Ark Nova Project we hope to give the people who are living with this situation something more than everyday pleasure. Combining different arts and cultures, this project is a fascinating symbiosis of architecture, design, folkloristic and classical music as well as music education.”

The first performance is scheduled for October 12th. The complete line-up can be found on their website.