Lauren Carlucci

My project is an homage to the jazz kissa, an institution that flourished in postwar Japan. A type of cafe, the jazz kissa offered customers the opportunity to listen to jazz records played on a high-end stereo system for a low price. At the time, gaining access to local and international culture by listening to records required record players, which were hard to come by and prohibitively expensive. The jazz kissa were generally located in small, warmly lit underground spaces and provided a venue ideal for close listening to the latest jazz and establishing connections. Like the original Japanese-style kissa, The New York Library of Sound will be a place where people can connect through sound and experience. This modern-day library will provide a multifunctional space where the community can interact, collaborate, play, listen, study, and learn. It will serve as a performance venue, meeting place, cafe and bar, art and design studio, and much more, helping people come together through community-building programming, state-of-the-art facilities, and forward-thinking design.