1. Danish Radio Concert Halls in Copenhagen :: by Jean Nouvel [Classical Designs]
In recent years, architects have been reinventing the classic concert hall auditorium. While the end goal remains the same—to present perfectly projected classical music in an unamplified yet gorgeous environment—the design techniques used have become increasingly sophisticated and elaborate. Soundproofing, "floating" architecture, areas for socializing, the use of bare spaces or sustainable materials—all these and more have been put to use in the name of providing classical entertainment.
2. Holywell Music Room in Oxford :: by Thomas Camplin in 1748 [Oldest Design]
Traditionally, European musicians played in churches and ale houses. But an 18th-century Oxford University music professor initiated the radical change of building a dedicated music venue, the Holywell Music Room, which took six years to complete and hosted its first performance in 1748. Widely acknowledged as the first hall created specifically for people to gather to listen to music, the Holywell Music Room seats 250 people and remains one of the world's most revered chamber music halls.
3. Musikverein in Vienna :: by Theophil von Hansen in 1870 [Best Acoustics]
Vienna's shoe box-shaped concert hall was completed in 1870 and is world-renowned for its acoustics. With more than 500 shows per year, this hall is a favorite of international orchestras and is the home of Vienna's Philharmonic, a historic orchestra associated with composers like Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi. Even though the science of acoustics has become increasingly sophisticated in the past century, a hall's sound cannot necessarily rely only on sophisticated technology to achieve the best effect. "We can [use computers] until the sound is 70% or 80% [perfect]," says Yasuhisa Toyota, a company director with sound specialist Nagata Acoustics who studied the Musikverein and who has worked on more than 50 of the world's concert halls. The rest, he warns, comes from a difficult-to-duplicate combination of experience—and luck.
4. Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona :: by Domènech i Montaner in 1908 [Most Light-Filled]
Barcelona's ornate Palau de la Música Catalana does not require additional, artificial lighting during daylight hours. Sunlight pours through the colorful skylight (which weighs about a metric ton and is built directly over the stage to properly illuminate daytime concerts.) Stained-glass windows also surround the 2,200-seat hall, further eliminating the need for electric lighting (although lighting is available for nighttime concerts). Completed in 1908 by Domènech i Montaner, the Modernist hall was constructed to resemble a Gothic cathedral to lend a sacred touch to the space, which is used mainly to stage concerts of choral music.
5. Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin :: by Hans Scharoun in 1963 [Most Influential]
Hans Scharoun started the trend of "vineyard" seating in 1963, when his design for Berlin's Philharmoniker concert hall was completed. In an attempt to involve the audience in the concert, Scharoun designed the hall so that seating surrounded the orchestra—rejecting the previous norm of "shoe box" arrangements in which audiences sat directly in front of the musicians. Since then, many of the world's concert halls, including Jean Nouvel's upcoming Philharmonie de Paris (which will be completed in 2012) and Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall have adopted this kind of seating. Some say the circular shape makes the concert-going experience more intimate and less hierarchical. "The room shape is more flexible and the layout is more informal," says Nagata Acoustics' Toyota.
6. Sydney Opera House :: by Jørn Utzon in 1973 [Most Visited]
With about 4 million visitors each year, the Sydney Opera House is not only the most visited concert hall, it's also the most visited landmark in the Southern Hemisphere. Recently, the Jørn Utzon-designed concert hall was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, alongside the Kremlin and the Tower of London. The main concert hall has 2,679 seats that curve around the stage. Every year, more than 650 staff members assist and advise the landmark's visitors—about a quarter of whom buy tickets to some of the 1,700 annual performances. For Sydney, this radically designed landmark has not only gained international acclaim for the city, it's also become a significant source of revenue.
7. Walt Disney Concert Hall at Los Angleles :: Frank Gehry in 2003 [Most Complex]
Visitors can get a sense of the complexity of the Walt Disney Concert Hall simply by looking at it. But to build the 293,000-square-foot hall cost $274 million and took 12,500 individually created pieces of primary steel, each one ranging in size from 13 inches to 110 feet and together weighing 22 million pounds. The auditorium is intended to suggest a ship's hull and billowing sails, mimicking the exterior of the building, which resembles a ship with its sail at full mast. For the initial design, Gehry used 270 different Catia computer models and created 30,000 shop drawings, while Nagata Acoustics' Toyota spent some 14 years developing its sound design.
8. Casa da Musica at Porto, Portugal :: by Office for Metropolitan Architecture in 2005 [Most Sociable]
Promising to take into account audiences' changing musical preferences, Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon of OMA designed a 1,300-seat concert hall with the underlying goal of encouraging audience interaction and discussion. For instance, wide aluminum stairs (replacing a traditional foyer) spark socializing while views of the outside world from two large glass windows located inside the concert hall act as a reminder of the world at large. "We wanted people to interact with the music as much as possible," says van Loon of the style-conscious building.
9. Zénith Concert Hall at Limoges, France :: by Bernard Tschumi in 2007 [Most Eco-Friendly]
Constructed from locally sourced Douglas fir wood as well as translucent polycarbonate (a material known for its superior thermal properties and temperature resistance), this hall's double-envelope style gives it natural light and energy-efficient insulation. In the 72-foot-high ceiling, huge vents release hot air as it rises to the top of the structure, thus saving on the air-conditioning bill. Outside, 1,500 parking spaces are covered with grass and surrounded by trees, which at least conceal the not always eco-friendly vehicles used by concertgoers. "When there is not a concert [playing] you see a grass field. Underneath is a volcanic stone that absorbs humidity," Tschumi describes. Although this venue often stages concerts of genres other than classical music, the venue made our list because its eco-awareness is a first among concert halls.
10. DR Concert Hall at Copenhagen :: by Jean Nouvel in 2009 [Most Transparent]
When it's complete, the Danish Radio Concert Hall will be enveloped with multifunctional, semitransparent blue walls. At night, the façade will turn into a film screen, allowing the details of the performances within to be displayed without. As such, it's the only concert hall whose outside walls are made completely of screens. From the inside, the foyer will also act as an auditorium to enhance the main performance by showing footage associated with the events—even before the visitor takes his or her seat in the main hall. And to allow visitors to get a clear sense of the structural skeleton of the building, the exterior of the terraced, 1,800-seat concert hall can be seen from the foyer and is connected only by three staircases and six pillars—adding to the sense of transparency inherent within the space.
1 comment:
I would say, "Sala Nezahualcóyotl" in Mexico, you should take a look at it, it has one of the best acoustics in the entire world.
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