It may not be as flashy as the Walt Disney Concert Hall Frank Gehry designed in Los Angeles, but the recently opened Pierre Boulez Saal concert hall in Berlin still brings a unique aesthetic and experience to the 682 listeners that can attend a concert there.
The design of the Pierre Boulez Saal eliminates the stage found in most concert halls, separating the musicians from the audience, and instead, employs the use of an oval to create one connected community. The oval allows for a much more intimate experience. It also allows the music to reverberate for slightly longer, says Daniel Barenboim in a New York Times interview, which leads to a more enjoyable experience for the listeners.
The original idea for the oval space came from an initial sketch Gehry showed to Barenboim. Barenboim loved the idea for a non-traditional concert hall and encouraged Gehry to pursue this design, according to the Pierre Boulez Saal’s official website.
Yasuhisa Toyota, a globally acclaimed acoustician, worked with Gehry to create the acoustics of the hall. Gehry and Toyota both donated their work as a gift in appreciation of what the project represented.
The Pierre Boulez Saal resides in the Barenboim-Said Akademie building, nestled into the cultural and historical center of Berlin. In addition to the revamped Pierre Boulez Saal, the building renovation adds 21 rehearsal rooms, an auditorium, a library, offices, and other ancillary space to fill the 6,500 sm.
On Saturday, March 4, the concert hall officially opened its doors for the first time to host four-hour concert by the Boulez Ensemble.
Related Stories
| Jul 19, 2013
Renovation, adaptive reuse stay strong, providing fertile ground for growth [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Increasingly, owners recognize that existing buildings represent a considerable resource in embodied energy, which can often be leveraged for lower front-end costs and a faster turnaround than new construction.
| Jul 19, 2013
Best in brick: 7 stunning building façades made with brick [slideshow]
The Brick Industry Association named the winners of its 2013 Brick in Architecture Awards. Here are seven winning projects that caught our eye.
| Jul 18, 2013
LEGO takes on the iconic Sydney Opera House
This September, LEGO will expand its LEGO Creator Expert series with a 2,989-brick model of the iconic Sydney Opera House.
| Jul 18, 2013
Koolhaas plan selected for Miami Beach Convention Center redevelopment [slideshow]
The master plan by OMA's Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu beat out a submission by Danish studio Bjarke Ingels Group for the massive redo of the Miami Beach Convention Center.
| Jul 2, 2013
LEED v4 gets green light, will launch this fall
The U.S. Green Building Council membership has voted to adopt LEED v4, the next update to the world’s premier green building rating system.
| Jul 1, 2013
Report: Global construction market to reach $15 trillion by 2025
A new report released today forecasts the volume of construction output will grow by more than 70% to $15 trillion worldwide by 2025.
| Jun 28, 2013
Building owners cite BIM/VDC as 'most exciting trend' in facilities management, says Mortenson report
A recent survey of more than 60 building owners and facility management professionals by Mortenson Construction shows that BIM/VDC is top of mind among owner professionals.
| Jun 5, 2013
USGBC: Free LEED certification for projects in new markets
In an effort to accelerate sustainable development around the world, the U.S. Green Building Council is offering free LEED certification to the first projects to certify in the 112 countries where LEED has yet to take root.
| Jun 3, 2013
Construction spending inches upward in April
The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during April 2013 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $860.8 billion, 0.4 percent above the revised March estimate of $857.7 billion.
| May 28, 2013
Minneapolis transit hub will double as cultural center [slideshow]
The Building Team for the Interchange project in downtown Minneapolis is employing the principles of "open transit" design to create a station that is one part transit, one part cultural icon.
