Tell us about the Casa Batlló project in a few words.

It combined everything I love about creativity, music, and composition into one.

How did your collaboration come about?

The Spanish conductor Pablo Urbina, whom I’ve worked with on a number of projects over the years, met the team from Casa Batlló at an event at the Spanish Embassy in London. Casa Batlló was introducing its new tour and they mentioned to Pablo that they were looking for a composer. He put my name forward for it and went on to conduct the recording session in Teldex Studios, Berlin.

What was your brief and how did you begin to develop your composition?

The team were extremely unique in that they gave me a huge amount of creative freedom when it came to the music. However, they did want me to be immersed into the world of Gaudí, both inside and out of the building. I made a number of trips to Barcelona to walk through it, as well as seeing other Gaudí monuments around the city. They educated me on a number of personal and professional elements of Gaudí’s life and work, which gave me an amazing foundation to begin work. First, I outlined the arc of the tour, physically and emotionally understanding the movements of the visitors. Then I pinpointed the “key” spaces that were most significant structurally, as well as developing the three main themes that the building explores – water, air, and light – and created musical ideas around them.

You say that you ‘see music in shapes’. What shapes or forms come through the strongest in your compositions for Casa Batlló?

A combination of sharp flashes, as well as constantly moving curves. I was particularly influenced by Gaudí’s references to the ocean, and aquatic nature, which serves as the bedrock behind this piece of architecture. The curves, and almost slow-motion-like elements (including the turtle windows and ventilators shaped like fish gills) were shapes and movements that influenced the music in those spaces. The mosaics were also incredibly influential for me; the combination of the shapes and colors, and the improvisatory feel to the way in which they were put together, was something I tried to capture in the music.

Who did you collaborate with for this project?

The incredible sound design team Grigorov-Schwalbe, a composer-duo, and their team in Berlin, who contributed so much to this soundtrack. I would often provide them with the live music elements – along with my ideas of the “sound-world” I was after – and they would creatively interpret this, combining the live and electronic elements. An example of where the building itself made its way into the soundtrack is within the music for Kengo Kuma’s staircase installation: they recorded the chains that were used, and manipulated their sound to create an incredible soundscape, which I composed the orchestral music on top of. I also collaborated with the conductor Pablo Urbina, cello soloist Emmanuel Bleuse, a symphony orchestra, a percussion quartet, and mixing engineer Olga Fitzroy.

What’s special about the attraction from your point of view?

I am in awe of the team of Casa Batlló wanting to make every element of this tour so special in different ways. Everything from commissioning the ‘moving pictures’ on the walls that were staged and filmed, to the Kengo Kuma installation, and of course the mind- blowing visual art by Refik Anadol to finish the tour. It is not a single moment that sticks out to me, but the combination and level of detail behind every single decision (even the way in which the items are designed and displayed in the gift shop) that has been made to create a lasting memory for every visitor.

What kind of emotions is your composition designed to inspire?

I wanted people to feel magical in this space. I find the whole building so vibrant, vivid, bold, and colorful, and I tried to communicate all of those feelings through the music. I hope to contribute towards an hour of total escapism for the visitor, free from their day-to-day worries.

How does the composition create an immersive experience?

Music is an essential part of our sensory experience, without which the entire experience can be tainted. I believe that music can enhance what we see, touch and smell, and, in this space in particular, can guide the visitor into the mind of Gaudí.

Every room has a unique piece of music. Do you have a favorite?

That is very difficult to say, because each space holds different memories of the process. However, I certainly still feel the opening “Grand Entrance” as well as the “Patio of Lights” and the “Main Hall” are my three favorites. These pieces came to me very quickly and were the first ones that I wrote after being so inspired by my first visit.