Construction is set to begin on the Steven Holl Architects-designed Ostrava Concert Hall in the Czech Republic. Hall won the competition for the scheme’s design back in 2018 with a proposal that saw the concert hall “encased” in a case of zinc.
The 1,300-seat concert hall was designed in collaboration with Prague-based associate architects Architecture Acts and is being developed in collaboration with the city of Ostrava. The team has previously described the scheme as a “perfect acoustic instrument in its case,” with a smooth facade of zinc covering a vineyard-type concert hall plan made of concrete and maple wood.
“We celebrate the completion of construction drawings and building permit with the hope of realizing this great public work for the joy of future generations,” Hall said as the scheme prepares to begin construction. “Ostrava’s legacy of music, the highest art, shall get a space of perfect acoustics and poetic inspiration.”
The new concert hall forms part of a wider redevelopment of the Ostrava Cultural Center. The new multifunctional complex will welcome an estimated 500,000 people per year, including the Holl-designed auditorium, an education center, a recording studio, a 490-seat auditorium, and a 120-seat multifunctional lecture hall.
News of the project’s construction comes after Steven Holl completed the Rubenstein Commons at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. Earlier in 2022, the firm’s Chapel of St. Ignatius was awarded the 2022 AIA Twenty-Five Year Award. In 2021, meanwhile, the firm’s Ostrava project formed part of an exhibition of Holl’s work at the Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw, Poland.
4 Comments
christ that is ugly
We've seen this before—Beware!
In this location, it's spelled BLAAB.
I've always been curious how these decisions get made. The full process, along with a list of jury members, is explained here:
https://www.ostrava.cz/en/o-meste/trvale/the-biggest-competition-in-the-modern-history-of-the-city-of-ostrava
The jury chair, architect Krzysztof Ingarden, explains the Holl decision:
Why did we choose this proposal? It was simply the best one. It is a fantastic piece of architecture considering very well the relationship of the old building with the new building, the relationship between the city of Ostrava and the park behind the existing building. I believe the winning project will be an emblematic piece of architecture for Ostrava revitalizing the city as well.
And of course they want to draw tourists to the area as well as attract worldwide attention to their concerts. I'm skeptical, of course, of the emblematic character of Holl's design and question what, if anything, it might say about our times. It is an extravagant and funky display of self-effacement. I'm not here/here I am! It feels like an act of indecision and desperation.
This is a challenging project. Apparently the existing buildings had to be preserved as much as possible and the concert hall needed to fit in that location as well as engage the park behind. It also needed to draw attention to itself yet at the same time relate to the existing buildings—very spartan, very stripped classical—in some way without upstaging or overpowering them.
Konior Studio's proposal. A large glass box with the concert hall sits behind.
https://koniorstudio.pl/projekt/sala-koncertowa-ostrava/
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