The Elbphilharmonie, a massive building complex by Herzog & De Meuron, will open in early January 2017. Set on the banks of the Elbe River in Hamburg, the complex contains three concert halls, a hotel, 45 private apartments, and "the Plaza," a public viewing area.
The main attraction of the Elbphilarmonie a 2,100 seat, world-class "Grand Hall," situated some 50 meters off the ground. The concert hall is detached from the rest of the building for acoustic reasons. The acoustic design of the concert hall was by Yashuhisa Toyota.
The Elbphilharmonie is located at the center of a rapidly transforming area of Hamburg. Dubbed HafenCity, the waterfront area, surrounded by both the Elbe and Alster rivers, is Europe's largest inner-city development project. When completed, the district will be home to about 12,000 people.
The project drew controversy a few years ago for cost overruns – the total cost almost tripled from initial estimates – and construction delays. German taxpayers are expected to have paid some €800 million on the project, with ridiculous costs like a €300 toilet brush.
Take a look at the image gallery below for more shots of the concert hall complex.
For more from Herzog & De Meuron, check out past coverage:
9 Comments
I don't like this. It's bulky and mean, like their Caixa Forum.
Their early work was much more simple. I feel like they are still trying to be simple but it ends up being bombastic. This is not only bombastic but weird. It reminds me of Gollum, a little.
It is definitely quite "epic" in scale, but when in the water on a boat (as I was), the scale somehow looks manageable, and the glass looks rather "soft"
I kinda like it.
post-modern-post-post and then sum...
That first photo though...
I have seen this in real life and no matter what a giant glass building with all those mullions looks very corporate and mundane. The frit does not achieve what they were hoping for. Perhaps it is nice inside- I have yet to see this.
Looks like they wanted to do an inverse version of the Sydney Opera House and did a giant face-plant instead.
There is an attempt to portray the frozen music (it's Philharmonic) ... in my opinion it managed
Volunteer,
Try The Berliner Philharmonie:
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