The European cultural realm “Hamburg needs a symbol.” With this slogan, the senate of that city sought to attract support and contributions to build the Elbphilharmonie. Originally, a private investor had brought the idea to Hamburg – with sketches by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron – suggesting that the scheme would be practically self-financing through the erection of a hotel and luxury apartments within the same complex. In the meantime, no less than €320 million are to be paid from public funds for the development, the opening of which will be delayed by two years until 2012 because of the complex construction on the roof of a quay warehouse. Hamburg is nevertheless sticking to the mighty, 103-metre-high landmark with its wave-like profile as a symbol of the so-called “harbour city” and the restoration of the urban centre to the waterfront in the former warehouse district. The measures are also meant to stimulate cultural activities in general, which are seen as a factor in promoting the image and economy of the city.
Who exactly will be able to fill a philharmonic hall accommodating 2,200 people remains open, however. The architects and the acoustic planner, Yasuhisa Toyota, promise outstanding acoustics for the concert hall, but Hamburg does not possess a really first-class orchestra. A small hall for chamber music, with seating for 600, and a restaurant, bar and shops will also be integrated in the new structure.
Rather like Hamburg, the Portuguese harbour city of Oporto wished to transform an entire urban district in a qualitative manner through the creation of a new concert hall. The Casa da Música is situated at the Rotunda da Boavista, a busy traffic roundabout. The competition for a new auditorium, won by Rem Koolhaas (OMA), was held after Oporto was chosen as European Capital of Culture for 2001. Only after a four-year delay, however, in April 2005, was the €100 million multifunctional building taken into service. Housed within a huge polygonal structure in white exposed concrete are a large concert hall (with seating for 1,238) and above this a smaller auditorium. The two are set almost at right angles to each other. One of the great strengths of the spatial programme is the flexible use it allows. Set within the crystalline outer form, which is based on an irregular septagonal plan, the main hall is now the home of the National Orchestra of Oporto. The huge curved glass fronts to the large hall set a surprising visual accent, affording passers-by a view of events within, while giving the orchestral musicians a feeling that they are performing for a broader public.
A similar concept was used by Foreign Office Architects in their design for the BBC Music Centre in White City, London, although with construction costs of £22 million the so-called “Music Box” – the future studio building for the BBC’s two large symphony orchestras and its choirs – is relatively modest compared to other concert halls.
The extensive Parco della Musica in Rome was also planned for a wide range of uses. Opened in April 2002 after a construction period lasting nearly ten years, it is the largest centre for concerts and other events in Italy. Renzo Piano, the winner of the competition, has succeeded in creating not just a multifunctional building, but an entire landscape for music. The site chosen was an area of disused land close to the former Olympics site on the periphery of the historical urban centre. Laid out about an amphitheatre (with seating for 3,000) that is used for open-air events and as an attractive public space, the ensemble comprises three halls set at 90° to each other and providing space for audiences of 750, 1,270 and 2,750 respectively. Situated next to the centre are a museum for musical instruments, and other facilities that attract numerous visitors to what was formerly a void in the urban landscape. In the process, the orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has gained a new home in the form of the large concert hall, the Sala Santa Cecilia.
Renzo Piano adopted the shape of a 19th-century lute as a model for the three volumes, while the choice of materials – timber, travertine, bricks, and lead roof coverings – alludes to those used in ancient Rome. With its arena-like layout, the large concert hall might be compared to that of the Philharmonie in Berlin by Hans Scharoun (1963).
Optimizing the acoustics for different kinds of orchestra and various tonal colours is, therefore, far more complex than in the familiar shoebox type, such as the hall of the congress and cultural centre in Lucerne by Jean Nouvel. Thanks to its movable wall elements, the latter guarantees excellent acoustic conditions for the many different ensembles that perform there.
Asia and the Middle East
Arab and Asian states and cities have discovered the economic benefits of culture and buildings for the arts along western lines for purposes of self-representation. In China during the Cultural Revolution, western arts were frowned upon or even forbidden. Fifty years ago, Zhou Enlai, the first prime minister of the country, intended to build a cultural centre in Beijing, but it was not until the 1990s under Jiang Zemin that the project to create a national theatre in the capital was implemented. Designed by French architect Paul Andreu, the theatre is based on an elliptical plan (213 ≈ 144 m) and forms a bold contrast to the traditional buildings in the city centre. Popularly known as the “duck egg” or the “giant dewdrop”, the structure is set in an artificial lake and is covered by a dome of smooth titanium sheeting. Access to the glazed foyer is via a 60-metre-long tunnel beneath the surface of the lake. In addition to restaurants and shops, the structure contains three large auditoriums: an opera house for an audience of 2,416, a theatre for 1,040 and a concert hall for 2,017. Since the opening of the centre in December 2007, the concert and theatre programme has featured mainly guest appearances from the US, Russia and Europe.
Cities of the arts; cultural districts
An even more ambitious cultural development is proposed for Hong Kong, where a whole new urban neighbourhood is planned: the West Kowloon Cultural District, with museums, theatres, shops and housing, covering an area of 43 ha. on a peninsula built up from the water. The aim is to develope a prominent centre for the arts and cultural activities in Asia that will also attract foreign investors and tourists. The competition held in 2003 was won by Norman Foster, but since no private investors came forward, the government has agreed to put up US$ 2.5 billion for the project. The first phase is due to be completed in 2015.
Also from the pen of Foster is the design for the largest glass roof in the world – a canopy-like structure 1.3 km long that will one day cover 55 per cent of the development area.
Various international architectural teams (Tadao Ando, Herzog & de Meuron) and museums (Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Foundation) are also involved in the scheme. Plans exist for the creation of three theatres for up to 2,000 people, a “performance hall” to accommodate 10,000, four museums, an amphitheatre, an entertainment strip with cinemas and restaurants, plus dwellings, retail trade outlets and commercial facilities.
A new urban district for the arts of almost pharaonic proportions is planned by the sheikhdoms of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi. On Saadiyat, also know as the
“Island of Happiness”, an expression of global culture is to be created with museums and a concert hall. Under the motto “Culture, not oil” and with the aid of the Louvre and Guggen-heim, as well as international star architects like Frank O. Gehry, Jean Nouvel and Zaha Hadid, Abu Dhabi hopes to acquire a new cultural identity and attraction that can compete with those of western metropolises.
Chinese opera
Another large-scale commission was awarded to the architect Zaha Hadid in the form of an opera house in Guangzhou, southern China. Situated close to the Pearl River, the building will form a sculpture of glass, steel and concrete set against the skyline of the city, which is built from river gravel. The programme will be dominated by traditional Chinese opera and, above all, western productions. With an area of 46,000 m2, with seating for 1,800, and costing approximately €100 million, the theatre will be the third-largest in China.
In terms of its size and unconventional form, Hadid’s opera house will be surpassed by Toyo Ito’s design for the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House on Taiwan. Ito’s complex proposals, with spaces that flow into each other vertically and horizontally, is a long way removed from a traditional opera-house type. The building is conceived more as a place of encounter between the arts, and between artists and people interested in the arts. Ideal acoustics for all kinds of eastern and western musical and theatrical traditions are attested to the two auditoria, with seating for 2,000 and 800 persons, as well as to the experimental stage, which can accommodate an audience of 200. The opening of this ambitious development is planned for 2009.
Conclusions
It remains to be seen which of the aforementioned projects will be implemented in the light of the present world financial crisis. One thing is certain, though: spectacular buildings for the arts imply a positive view of the future. They are either tokens of open-mindedness towards other cultures (e.g. the schemes in the Arab world) or expressions of strength and power, as in China. Projects with a cultural accent like those in Europe, where the underlying purpose is one of urban revitalization, are designed to boost the development of the environment as a whole. One question remains unanswered, though who will perform in the spaces of some of the architectural superlatives described here, particularly the many new concert halls? Can a building with a striking exterior, but without an adequate content, such as a first-class orchestra, acquire true meaning simply through guest appearances by well-known stars; or does the structure qua form remain just an expensive visual attraction, the product of media hype?
