Silkroad Project

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Boston, Massachusetts
4,000 SF

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Acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma stated, “The role of the musician is to go from concept to full execution.  Put another way, it's to go from understanding the content of something to really learning how to communicate it and make sure it's well-received and lives in somebody else.” Our project was an effort to adjust the concept of the Silkroad, and re-interpret it for their creative office setting.

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In 2010, the Silkroad Project, a nonprofit arts and educational organization dedicated to innovation, learning through multicultural and interdisciplinary exchange, relocated to Boston.  With this transition came the opportunity to create a custom made space including both open and private offices, meeting areas, and an intimate performance space.  In honor of the organization’s collaborative motivations, the multi-layered wall is a physical expression of creativity that separates the performance space from the workplace, yet links the two through its transparency.  Music passes unfiltered into the workplace while the offices’ natural light penetrates the wall to the artistic core.  In this way it becomes a metaphor for the interactions and exchanges made possible by the historical Silk Road trade route.  Beyond the aesthetics, further considerations include enhancing practical and experiential aspects of the work environment, and a custom, climate controlled storage space which permits musical instruments to be stored on-site for the first time.