The new architectural landmark for the capital and a national and international concert venue for Denmark, the Copenhagen Concert Hall or DR Concert Hall. The Copenhagen Concert Hall was designed by architect Atelier Jean Nouvel has the ugliest setting of the three. In a new residential and commercial district on the outskirts of the old inner city, it is flanked by boring glass residential and office blocks. Elevated train tracks running to the old city swing right by the building; swaths of undeveloped land with tufts of grass and mounds of dirt extend to the south. The building is swathed in a bright blue exterior made of translucent fabric.

“The first idea for the building was the concept of the blue screen, a kind of lantern magic, because of the exceptional situation of the urban condition being a new development. I try to be a contextual architect and generally like to have a dialogue with my neighbors, but in this new urban situation I did not know my neighbors. So I tried to think about myself an an architect in the 11th century who had to build a Cathedral in a city in Europe, and how the buildings then happened around the Cathedral. This was possible because this is probably the largest and most public building here…”, says Jean Nouvel on Friday January 16th.

The DR Concert Hall of Copenhagen consists of four “studios,” all very different in size and design, and thus well suited to all kinds of music. The Main Concert Hall, Studio 1, is raised ten meters above street level with the upper Foyer under its “belly”, giving the impression of a big wooden sculpture. Escalators and elevators in the upper Foyer lead to the different levels of the Concert Hall. The stage is in the middle of the Concert Hall, surrounded by 1800 seats on multi-level terracing. Nouvel refers to it like a vineyard with terracing. The ceiling and the wall surfaces are in stained plywood with milled surfaces in order to spread the highest audio frequencies. The characteristic “wave walls” are made of plaster products.

As a minimum all the surfaces of the hall weigh 100 kg per square meter which insures the best possible reproduction of the lowest sounds. This means that most surfaces consist of up to six layers of plaster and plywood. When the Danish National Symphony Orchestra leaves the hall to other musical genres, large curtains are drawn out of the slots in the wave walls to optimize the acoustics of the hall as required.

Studio 2 is inspired by the big production studios in Hollywood. On the plywood walls hang large panels with portraits of selected soloists, conductors and composers printed on them as decoration. The portraits were processed with a special vector graphics technique, that turn the images into black and white contrasts, then stenciled on the plywood walls.

Studio 3, the smallest unit of the Concert Hall, can be customized for any event since there is no fixed stage or audience seating. The black walls, in alternating polished and matte panelling, is inspired by a grand piano. The floor is stained oak. Studio 4 is also flexible and can be adapted to a wide variety of events. The walls and ceiling are in deep red shades. The metal coffers are aluminum, the absorbent surface is felt. The floors are stained oak.

Events at the Concert Hall will range widely in terms of size and genre: small-scale jazz concerts in the foyer, chamber music, choral, rock and pop concerts in the three smaller concert halls and symphony concerts, guest appearances and large scale rhythmic concerts in the large concert hall.

It will thus be possible to see, hear and experience DR’s own orchestras and choirs: Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Sinfonietta, DR Big Band, DR Vocal Ensemble, DR Radio Choir, DR Radio Girls’ Choir, DR Youth Ensemble and DR’s children’s choir, as well as guest performances and guest soloists from Denmark and abroad. Also rhythmical music, where DJs and bands will form new groundbreaking concepts.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Architecture Design. Tags: architectural, Atelier Jean Nouvel, buildings, Concert Hall, Concert Halls, Copenhagen, Copenhagen Concert Hall, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Denmark, design, DR Concert Hall, DR Concert Hall of Copenhagen, DR Vocal Ensemble, DR Youth Ensemble, Europe, Jean Nouvel, Main Concert Hall, metal coffers, plaster products, Radio Sinfonietta, Studios, The DR Concert Hall of Copenhagen, vector graphics, Vocal Ensemble. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.