Shanghai Tower

When Shanghai Tower saw completion last year, the new skyscraper immediately became more than a landmark. Twisting high above China’s biggest city, it is the tallest tower in the country – and one of the highest buildings on earth. But Shanghai Tower is just as impressive from the inside as it is from the outside. One of its highlights is the world’s highest concert and culture space more than 600 meters above ground. Barco’s Iosono sound system creates the unique acoustics for this extraordinary location.

On 126th floor the highest arts space on earth offers its visitors an exceptional acoustic experience. The Iosono system has been installed in Shanghai Tower by Barco’s Chinese 3D sound distributor Full Dimension to create a holographic sound image, letting visitors truly dive into the musical experience. Grammy Award winning composer and creative advisor of Full Dimension, Simon Franglen created a special soundtrack that lets listeners experience a tale of Shanghai. The piece was inspired by the architecture of the tower as Franglen explains.

Barco’s Iosono Core audio processor and 260 speakers from Fohhn’s Airea Series have been installed in the venue, including around 240 ultra-compact LX-10 ASX nearfield speakers. The speakers span over three layers in a setup that has been custom designed by Full Dimension to follow the room architecture. The sound system allows composers to actually place the music inside the space. “If I want to put a bell in front of your face, I can. What I've done is written a piece of music that allows you to walk around inside it,” says Franglen, who is best known for his work on Hollywood soundtracks like “Avatar” and “Titanic”. Franglen’s symphony, which has been performed by four orchestras and a choir, plays in different lengths depending on the occasion. Additional 3D sound compositions have been created by international artists, including Lukas Taido from Germany and Markus Pöchinger from Austria.

Congratulations to Barco Audio Technologies and Full Dimension on this successful project!