Consequence of Sound: The newly opened Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, Germany is a visually stunning structure from a design perspective, with its gorgeous wave-shaped facade, curved elevators, and its seemingly endless stairs. However, the focal point of the $843 million building is its one of a kind central auditorium designed specifically for a balanced sound throughout the concert hall.
6 comments:
This place is popping. I love seeing functional architecture made into something beautiful. I think beauty is driven by purpose meaning that form follows functionality. The organic shapes engineering to make this space “perfect” are what make it so wildly unique and interesting to look at. I would be interested to hear why the space is so light in color. Was this aesthetic or, following the intent of other parts of this design, driven by their purpose/benefits?
Interestingly enough, even though its based on acoustic engineering principals, the structure looks very organic and plantlike. It has curvature that mimics wildlife and patterns that nature follows. The article even mentions that it is “coral-like”.
The outside of the building is gorgeous as well. The design is angular and reflective which contrasts the inside drastically. The materials look manmade and have qualities not many things in nature have while the inside looks like it was pulled from a garden.
The thing that impresses me most about this project is the way that they used aesthetically pleasing forms to create a space that both distributes sound the way they want it to and is a pleasant environment to be in. I really like how organic it looks. It almost feels like the space just grew that way. I wonder if they made a conscious decision to go with very natural and somewhat aquatic looking forms, of if something about those shapes make them inherently the best choice acoustically. Obviously there are some choices that are purely visual, such as the blue lighting and the hall itself being primarily white. The shapes of the seating banks are also very interesting. I’m assuming that the seat locations were put there because the best sounds could be created in those areas, but I guess it is also possible that they decided they wanted a visually interesting seating configuration and then designed the sound for that configuration. Regardless, I’d really like to see this concert hall/ hear what music sounds like in it.
I am curious, how can something be acoustically perfect? What defines a space as acoustically perfect, is there such a thing.?On what scale is something like this measured? I guess where I am confused is how can they know when something like this is perfect. We have nothing to compare it to. I also think the word perfect is hard to achieve. Defending on whether the venue is filled or empty plays a role on the sound quality. I’m sure there is a laundry list of different types of problems that could go wrong that would also play with the sound. Are all 10000 sound panels in the correct orientation? Does position in the space play a role? Does the performer have to standing in a specific spot for it to have the right effect? That being said I would love to go and experience this because although I don’t believe it is perfect I’m sure it is the closes thing that I will ever see to it.
I find the concept of a aucusiticly perfect venue to be an interesting one. Part of me is curious just how perfect is the concert hall, what criteria did they use in defining whether or not it was perfect acoustically. The other part of me is really interested in seeing a preformance there so that I may have some first hand experience with what is apparently a acoustically perfect concert hall. Also looking at the pictures in the article I was amazed at the scope of how many individual acoustic panels they needed to put in, it is literally to the amount I would generally think of lower quality computer screen amount of pixels. I was also highly impressed with the overall look off the room, for a room that was engineered to the extent that this room was ( leave it to the Germans to over engineer) it still had a ascetically pleasing aspect to it my favorite feature being that of the giant sound cloud in the middle of the room that seems suspended from no where but rather just gracefully floating. In all the room is a astounding work of acoustical engineering and creative design to still make ik visually pleasing for the eye.
I have a lot of skepticism over the idea of an area being "Perfectly" acoustic, mainly because that implies that it is perfect under any conditions that arise within the space. would humidity affect this, would the size of audience affect this? there is a litany of things that could go wrong or could change the acoustics of the space, so can it really be declared to be perfect? that being said, i do like the aesthetic of the space, and how it seems like that was a major consideration in the construction of the space. I feel almost like this is someone's box for susan, in that the outside and the inside are so drastically different, it almost screams design. the inside is so fluid, smooth, and inviting, it is light but not whitewashed. this however is starkly contrasted by the outside of the building which is sharp, reflective, and seems someone has scooped chunks out of it a the top. overall id love to see something in this space, if not to experience the interior of the building firsthand then to finally ear something "perfectly" acoustic.
Absolutely beautiful, I almost get the impression that it is underground due to its sloping ceilings and staggered tunnel like levels of seats. But otherwise it looks like a location you’d find in a book or fantasy movie due to its lack of standard efficiency. To the average eye the setup looks like a waste of potential seats and potential money, that decadence replaced audience revenue, when in reality it’s more than just a pretty thing to see. The lack of seating compared to the average venue means tickets are going to need to be much more expensive, especially to cover the $843 million of construction. The hand blown light bulbs also point towards the new venue only being available to those with ample amounts of money to purchase tickets. With that kind of market I’m sure it would buy itself back tenfold, especially if the acoustics sound as perfect as they claim to be.
Article Rating:
8/10
Notes:
Sticky notes weren’t sticky
Post a Comment