Orchestral manoeuvres: Studio Seilern designs concert hall for Andermatt

A well known winter staple for the world’s ski lovers, for its excellent alpine and off-piste facilities, the Swiss village of Andermatt is set to enter the global design maps too. The Andermatt Swiss Alps development company has slowly been transforming the resort using a mix of established and emerging names in contemporary architecture.

Christina Seilern and her team at Studio Seilern is part of this architectural makeover, having been commissioned to design a modern concert hall in the village’s heart. The scheme involves the complete redesign of an existing building used up till now as a convention and event centre, which will now get a full upgrade in terms of its acoustic requirements and equipment, to match the contemporary needs of a state of the art concert hall.

The London based architects, who also have a performance centre in the UK – the Wellington College Performance Art Centre – in the works, achieved this by raising the venue’s roof, which meant that upon completion the building would be able to host large-scale orchestra concerts. The same roof will jut out and extend over the open space outside the concert hall, creating a covered plaza welcoming visitors.

‘It has been an honour for us to work on this exceptionally unique project’, says Seilern. ‘The Andermatt Concert Hall will be a world-class facility set to rival cultural counterparts in Europe’s top capitals, providing Andermatt’s visitors and residents with a new cultural hub right in the heart of the historic village.’ 

Seilern’s project will join the wealth of new hotels, residential developments and chalets that are currently in the works at the resort, and are set to define the new face of Andermatt.