Pur by SOUR | Sensory Architecture and Acoustic Innovation on the Aegean Coast – ADF Web Magazine

Pur by SOUR | Sensory Architecture and Acoustic Innovation on the Aegean Coast

ADF03/31/2026≫ Architect

Pur by SOUR

A Fusion of Acoustic Architecture and Sensory Design Born in the Aegean Sea, Turkey

SOUR has completed "Pur," a residential recording studio on the Aegean island of Cunda (Alibey Island), Türkiye. The project brings together a boutique hotel and recording environment, developed through co-creation with international and local musicians. It is grounded in the belief that the environment in which music is made ultimately influences the final outcome—not only the studio itself, but also the people and the history surrounding it.

Music and Space Through Co-Creation

SOUR is a global design innovation studio addressing social and urban challenges. Working across urban design, architecture, and system design, it applies co-design methodologies that value lived experience alongside professional expertise."Pur" embodies a simple yet urgent belief: music brings people together. It celebrates diversity while enabling oneness, positioning itself as infrastructure for connection where making music becomes inseparable from building community.

Dual Alignment Between Local and Global

The project addresses a fundamental question: how can a building honor the elemental character of its place—sea, olive trees, wind, and birds—while delivering world-class acoustic precision? Pur is conceived as an experiment in dual alignment: respecting and blending with the local context while enabling a new destination equipped with state-of-the-art technology. These forces do not compete but amplify one another. The building takes the form of a simple two-story masonry and timber structure rooted in Cunda’s architectural heritage, reinterpreted through contemporary tectonics. Inside, the experience unfolds as a sequence of soundscapes. Variations in height, width, and depth, along with calibrated reflective and absorptive surfaces, give each space a distinct acoustic identity. A GFRC shell expresses this transition as a single gesture. It functions as a threshold, carrying users from the vernacular calm of Cunda into a highly tuned recording environment—like passing through a "wormhole" of soundscapes, reflecting how music moves across time, cultures, and people.

A Naturally Lit Cave

The spatial sequence continues downward from the ground floor to the musician’s lounge located 10 meters below ground. This descent evokes a cave-like atmosphere suited to music production. Natural light remains a defining element. The lounge maintains visual connections to the restaurant and terraces above, preserving openness and comfort and offering a true "home-away-from-home" experience. The recording studio adopts a box-in-box system for acoustic performance and isolation. It includes live rooms, a control room, vocal and percussion rooms, reverb chambers, editing and montage suites, a mastering suite, and a Dolby Atmos theater. The main live room accommodates up to a 75-piece orchestra. Sliding partitions and rotating, height-adjustable ceiling panels allow the space to be tuned like an instrument.

Coexistence of Social Space and Acoustic Performance

A double-height restaurant anchors the social life of Pur, connecting courts, lounges, terraces, and the seashore. Hospitality and high-performance acoustics coexist seamlessly. "The thing which makes the studio unique is the combination of the rotating, height-adjustable panels and the variable wall panels," says Chris Walls of Level Acoustic. "Together with the two echo chambers, this creates a highly diverse and unique sonic palette."

Architecture as a Process of Co-Creation

The design reflects principles co-created with musicians: access to nature, a "glocal" perspective, spaces for creativity, and places for retreat. These are lived needs embedded in spatial decisions. The result is a place of cultural production where architecture itself becomes evidence of collaboration. “It’s still early days, but artists such as Fazıl Say report that Pür Cunda removes barriers to creativity,” says Pieter Snapper. “There is time, freedom, calm, and inspiration, allowing ideas to develop naturally with a sense of playful inevitability.”

About SOUR

SOUR is a global design innovation studio with a mission to address social and urban challenges. Working across urban design, architecture, and system design, it employs co-creation methodologies that prioritize lived experience alongside professional expertise.