Creative Energy Lab (Cel)

Toronto, (ON) Canada
2014

Client: Studio Feed
Status: Ongoing

The Creative Energy Lab [CEL] will bring artists, engineers, entrepreneurs, designers, activists, and the greater music community under one roof. It will be a place of artistic expression, technological innovation, entrepreneurial training, and of public gathering. It will comprise vital new infrastructure for collaboration in music, and for the continuity of the art. Re-occupying and inhabiting an existing structure, it will breathe new life into the city, and build on older foundations. In the development of these spaces, an anchor for independent music is created in the city, a home for the creative community, and a base for policy change. A sequence of spaces works in concert, and towards the sensory enhancement of the music experience itself.

THE PUBLIC ENTRANCE
This is the portal, the conduit between the city and StudioFeed. It is always
inviting, informing, and engaging. Featuring an interactive calendar as
well as a projection wall, it will serve as a means of connecting to events
and happenings across the city, as well as what is occuring within the
space itself.

A SPACE OF EXCHANGE
This is a space of connectivity and awareness. Revealed to the public
street, new audio technology will find a rightful venue. As a space for
rotating vendors and manufacturers to demonstrate and educate, it will
bridge local industry to a knowing public. Listening stations will allow
for exposure of independent music to a larger audience, something
also propagated by onsite livestream radio, featuring broadcasts of and
interviews with emerging and established artists and other stakeholders
of independent art.

THE CENTRAL HALL
A central, flexible space will allow for a multitude of exchanges based
around the art of music. This is a space of creativity, education, and
advocacy. It is the empty canvas for human connection and the exchange
of experience. Concerts, panel discussions, seminars, screenings, all
serve to empower and unite the independent music ecosystem.

AN ACTIVE SPACE
The central space transforms, and becomes one of social gathering and
performance. Recognizing the strong bonds formed through a common
love of music, this space will foster physical and virtual relationships
across multiple groups and musical genres.