The Sanctuary at Albany – new studio in the Bahamas
Posted on: Wednesday 9th of May 2018
Located at Albany, a 600-acre luxury resort community on New Providence backed by Joe Lewis, golfing greats Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, and actor and musician Justin Timberlake, The Sanctuary sits along the harbour of Albany’s mega-yacht marina, surrounded by luxury residences designed by some of the world’s most renowned architects. Initially conceived in a conversation with Albany resident Charles Goldstuck, entrepreneur and investor, currently founder and co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment, and Christopher Anand, managing partner of Albany, the studio was designed as a place where musicians and creators can be inspired to do their best work and to give the more than dozen music professionals with homes at Albany the opportunity to both work and live within the community.
The project took four years to complete from start to finish and White Mark Ltd were involved from a very early stage, helping with equipment choices as well as studio design and acoustics alongside Danish architect Bjarke Ingels of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and studio director Ann Mincieli, owner of New York City’s Jungle City Studio and longtime engineer and studio coordinator for Alicia Keys.
“We chose White Mark because of their track record of working at the very highest level, attributed to their wealth of experience working worldwide,” says Goldstuck. “The relationship with Bjarke Ingels Group, our main architects, was vital and, in large part, contributed to the great synergy between the environment, structure and internal feel of the building – resulting in a wonderfully calm and inspiring creative space.”
The Sanctuary has six studios – a main control room and live room with two vocal booths, plus five smaller studios that are equipped with Pro Tools and Mac workstations. The control room is equipped with a 48-channel Solid State Logic Duality Delta console, custom Exigy monitors and a host of outboard gear including digital and many vintage pieces. The oak-panelled live room has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the yacht harbour and this, along with the two booths, have clear lines of sight into the control room.
“This project was a truly special opportunity for all of us at White Mark,” David Bell says. “Starting with a “clean sheet of paper” to build on undeveloped land, working with one of the world’s very best architectural practices and having a budget available that is very rare in today’s world, combined to make the project unique. The result is a facility of which we are extremely proud. The accuracy of the control room, the incredible open and warm feel of the main live room and booths set against views that are beyond inspiring, contribute to a studio that brought together all that we have learned in our careers to date. The experience of hearing the first playing of the Steinway in the main live room will live with me for a long time. I hope that those who use the studio and take it forward feel the same, and I look forward to hearing from them as time passes.”
www.albanybahamas.com
Photo credit Cheryl Fleming and James Lane
