Green light for the Toggenburg Sound House

The planned Klanghaus is intended to replace the Seegüetli course venue above Unterwasser, create an offering from Klangwelt Toggenburg and become a musical and architectural center for natural sound music. As a sound workshop with unique acoustics, the Klanghaus will attract both professional musicians and amateurs for rehearsals, courses, research and experiments.

The room program of the Toggenburg Sound House comprises four acoustically special sound rooms that can be tuned like an instrument. The building is planned as an integral timber construction. The canton is planning the Klanghaus as the client. Klangwelt Toggenburg is to be the operator of the Klanghaus.

The total costs for the construction of the Klanghaus, including all preparatory work, amount to CHF 24.3 million. Of this, CHF 5 million will be financed by foundations and benefactors and legally secured before construction begins. This leaves a credit requirement of CHF 19.3 million for the canton. Accordingly, the cantonal council's decision is subject to a mandatory financial referendum. 

The Klanghaus project by the Meili, Peter Architekten and Staufer & Hasler Architekten consortium is also attracting interest from private individuals, potential sponsors and foundations. According to the canton, a significant proportion of the private third-party funding has already been pledged or promised. The construction project will only be tackled once co-financing of CHF 5 million has been secured from private donors. 

Once the dispatch has been forwarded to the Cantonal Council, the preliminary advisory committee will be appointed in the September session. The first reading in the Cantonal Council is expected to take place in the November 2015 session and the second reading in the February 2016 session. If the Cantonal Council approves the project, the referendum is planned for 2016. If approved by the electorate, construction could begin in 2018.