The Concert Halls

© Herzog & de Meuron

The heart of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg is the Grand Hall. With a seating capacity of 2,150, spectacular architecture, and sophisticated acoustics it is causing a sensation worldwide. Here, the vision of Hamburg as a musical capital becomes a resonating reality – with a concert hall destined to be one of the finest in the world.

It is immediately evident that the Grand Hall is not designed in the classical »shoebox« layout, where music is projected from the front. Prominent examples of the »shoebox« structure are the Golden Hall at the Vienna Musikverein and the Laeiszhalle Hamburg. Instead, the architects chose the »vineyard« design for the Grand Hall. Here, the orchestra takes its place in the middle of the hall and the audience is seated around on all sides, the seating rising up as in a stadium – similar to the terraced planting of vineyards.

The advantages of this layout are obvious: unobstructed sightlines of the stage from every seat. Gone are the days when columns or opulent hair-dos in the front rows obstruct the concert-goer’s view of the stage. This circular seating increasingly reflects the 21st century’s concept of music – a departure from the strictly one-sided orientation and a move towards a shared, face-to-face experience with music. A person seated behind the orchestra can almost feel like one of the musicians, particularly as he or she can look the conductor in the face and observe the intense dialogue between conductor and orchestra.

Naturally, a world-class concert hall is defined by its acoustics. To guarantee an optimal sound in the Grand Hall of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the world’s most experienced acousticians are involved. Yet to achieve acoustical perfection, several factors must come together.

To begin with, the hall is completely isolated from the rest of the building. The outer wall of the Grand Hall is fitted into the building like a nut in a nutshell – you cross the joint when you enter the Grand Hall. It’s a masterly accomplishment: 2,150 theatre seats, 50 metres above the ground, and weighing a total of 12,500 tonnes, rest on enormous steel springs. Thus no outside noise reaches the concert hall; no amount of hustle and bustle on the Plaza or ships steaming in and out of the harbour can disturb a concert.

To ensure perfect acoustics a special surface was developed for the walls and ceiling of the Grand Hall – the »white skin« – which is unique throughout the world. Ten thousand gypsum fibre panels, milled on the basis of intricate 3-D calculations, reflect the sound in each corner of the hall and guarantee an optimal listening experience from every seat. A reflector in the centre of the tent-shaped vaulted ceiling reflects the sound of the orchestra equally throughout the hall. It also contains light engineering equipment and an organ register.

Responsible for optimal acoustics is one of the world’s leading specialists, Yasuhisa Toyota. With his company Nagata Acoustics, he developed the acoustics for the
Suntory Hall in Tokyo and the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles. Yasuhisa Toyota first calculated the surround sound for the Grand Hall designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron using highly complex 3-D computer models. Next, he built a 1:10 scale model of the Grand Hall (which is now on display on the upper level of the Elbphilharmonie Pavilion). To simulate the audience 2,000 tiny felt dolls were seated in the model concert hall and dozens of sensitive microphones positioned to record the sound coming from the stage. Toyota spent weeks analysing the data to »tune« the hall. Exciting architecture and perfect sound are thus closely interconnected at the opening of the Elbphilharmonie.

In addition to the Grand Hall, the Elbphilharmonie will house two other concert halls. The Recital Hall retains the classic »shoebox« layout and with a seating capacity of 550 is designed particularly with chamber music in mind. Equipped with flexible seating, it becomes versatile for other events such as balls or conferences. Right at the top of the old warehouse construction is the Kaistudio with a seating capacity of 170. It is designed for contemporary and experimental music, children’s concerts, or as a place for orchestral and choir rehearsals.