Bishop-organ from Tokyo to Copenhagen
Because of stricter regulations for earthquake hazard, we dismantled the Bishop organ that we placed in Lalaport mall in Tokyo (Toyosu) in 2006, and shipped it back to Europe. It was purchased by the Musikhochschule in Copenhagen in July 2011 and will be built in an auditorium.
Unfortunately, herewith came an end to a rather unique situation: a shopping center containing an organ that is played several times daily. When we
placed the instrument in 2006, we could not imagine
that it would be for such a short period.
We, therefore, dismantled it with sadness and loaded
it into a number of containers. The planning was
complicated by the recent earthquake of March 11,
2011. It caused some damage to the organ, and our
containers with pipe-boxes and tools, which were
already en route from Rotterdam, were seriously
delayed. Because of the damage and severe dust
contamination, the instrument will be fully checked
in the workshop.
Of course we asked ourselves why in 2006 fully fiat
was given, and why the situation after inspection
was approved. We were told that the regulations
for earthquake hazard has recently been seriously
tightened, in a way that made it impossible to adapt
the organ and organ gallery to the new rules . The
rules concern the risk of collapse and fall down of
(front-) pipes on shoppers. In Japan, these rules are
implemented very rigid, and no exceptions for existing
situations are made. After rejecting the situation by
the authorities, the organ had therefore to be removed as soon as possible.
After mediation by Jacques van Oortmerssen, the instrument could quickly be resold to the Musikhochschule in Copenhagen.
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