“Designing for Sensory Intelligence” Features in Concrete Engineering International
August 10, 2026
We are thrilled to share that our project, Pür Residential Recording Studio, has been featured in the August 2026 issue of Concrete Engineering International (Vol. 30, No. 2). Written by SOUR's founder Inanc Eray, the article titled "Designing for Sensory Intelligence: Pür Residential Recording Studio" delves into how the project navigates the duality between local vernacular architecture and world-class acoustic engineering.
Located on Cunda Island in Ayvalık, Türkiye, Pür is a 2,230 m² (24,000 sq ft) boutique hotel and residential recording studio designed through a co-creation process with local and international musicians. Completed in January 2026, the building serves as an infrastructure for cross-cultural connection where the act of making music becomes inseparable from community building.
Key Highlights from the Publication
Dual Alignment & Vernacular Context: The design balances the elemental character of Cunda—its sea, olive trees, and breezes—with ultra-precise sound environments. Externally, the studio presents itself as a cluster of two-storey gabled masonry and timber volumes in keeping with the island’s architectural heritage.
Double-Curved GRC Shell: Serving as a spatial threshold into the recording zones, the Musician's Lounge features a double-curved Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete (GRC) shell. Fabricated off-site by Bir Prekast and installed using real-time point cloud scanning, the fluid geometry behaves as a built-in bass trap while maintaining an NR 20 background-noise rating.
Acoustic Isolation & Floating Systems: Set within an underground cast-in-situ C35/45 concrete envelope, the recording environments—including live rooms, control rooms, mastering suites, reverb chambers, and a Dolby Atmos theatre—achieve an NR 15 noise rating through independent "box-in-box" floating constructions.
Adaptable Acoustic Palette: Designed in collaboration with Level Acoustic Design, the main live room incorporates sliding wall partitions and rotating, height-adjustable ceiling panels, enabling musicians to actively tune reverberation times and reflection patterns.
Built-in Sustainability: The heavy concrete mass acts as a thermal buffer against coastal climate swings, drastically lowering cooling demand and allowing low-velocity ventilation (1–1.6 m/s) for whisper-quiet HVAC operation.
Read the full story on how sensory intelligence, materiality, and sound come together at Pür in the August 2026 issue of Concrete Engineering International.
