Concert hall architecture

Fuzhou’s art centre by PES Architects takes its cues from jasmine blossom

Fuzhou, China, has recently been hailed as one of the fastest growing metropoles in the world, so no surprise that this aspiring urban hub was in need of a world-class cultural and performing arts centre to match. Enter Helsinki and Shanghai...

Architecture / 16 Aug 2018

Frank Gehry launches design for the YOLA Center at Inglewood in Los Angeles

Frank Gehry has launched new designs for the Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center in Inglewood, Los Angeles, the first permanent, purpose-built facility for Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), an initiative of the LA Phil founded in 2007. This new...

Architecture / 10 Apr 2018

Feilden Clegg Bradley unveils refresh of South Bank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room

A brace of brutalist landmarks at London’s South Bank Centre have been given an upgrade by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The architects were tasked with improving the experience for performers and audiences at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and adjoining Purcell...

Architecture / 29 Jan 2018

The progressive European concert halls hitting all the right notes

Scenography of Space is a series of short films – created by the global creative agency PLANE–SITE – that explores the architectural concepts behind four progressive concert halls: Harpa in Reykjavik, the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, and the...

Architecture / 17 Jan 2018

Japanese lantern: Ottawa’s National Arts Centre glows from within

The latest stage in the on-going $225 million rejuvenation of Ottawa’s National Arts Centre by Diamond Schmitt Architects employs light as an architectural element. Inspired by traditional Japanese lanterns as well as the use of light and video in monuments like the Arc...

Architecture / 18 Dec 2017

An architectural refresh of the Athens Conservatoire hits all the right notes

Ioannis Despotopoulos – also known internationally as Jan Despo – is one of Greece’s most prominent modernists, widely acclaimed for one of the capital’s best kept secrets, the Athens Conservatoire – a distinct, linear concrete structure in the heart of...

Architecture / 5 Dec 2017

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...

Architecture / 13 Jan 2017

Standing ovation: Herzog & de Meuron’s Elbphilharmonie opens in Hamburg

Hamburg’s industrial waterfront has experienced extraordinary changes over the last century and a half, and no building better represents this than Herzog & de Meuron’s new Elbphilharmonie concert hall, which opened this week. The multi-use structure is built on the...

Architecture / 31 Oct 2016

Bell works: Calgary’s latest cultural addition is a musical revelation

While Calgary’s oil crash has caused economic concerns of late, a happy accident of its boom days is a plethora of new architecture – both public and residential – aimed at reviving its downtown. Hot on the heels of new...

Architecture / 20 May 2016

Just like Buddy Holly: DSAI design a Texas music centre that’s good at everything

When Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc (DSAI) first interviewed for the new Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences in Lubbock, Texas, the board told principal and future project architect Matthew Lella that they wanted to make the often neglected...

Architecture / 17 Feb 2016

This brutal house: the National Arts Centre of Ottawa is getting a makeover

For many years, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre remained as frozen in time as the statue of pianist Oscar Peterson that greets passersby on its Elgin Street flank. But the brutalist classic by Fred Lebensold, originally commissioned by Prime Minister Lester...

Architecture / 16 Dec 2015

Pitch perfect: MAD reveal the Harbin Opera House’s sweeping curves

Until the opening of its extraordinarily sinuous opera house, Harbin, in China’s remote and cold north-east provinces, has been mostly known for its annual blow-out ice-sculpture festival. However, the Beijing-based MAD Architects have pushed China’s eighth most populous city to...