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View Full Version : Concert hall with one of the world's best accoustics...


Skybird
11-04-16, 07:23 PM
... so they say. And considering that it should have been finished already in 2010, but lasted until now, and that the costs exploded from planned 77 million to 780 million (!!), it better offers itself as one of the best accoustic concert halls indeed:

The Elbe Philharmonic in Hamburg finally has opened.

LINK - Pictures (http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/elbphilharmonie-schoen-aber-es-zieht-fotostrecke-142385.html)

Enough seats for 2100 visitors, and no seat more than 30m away from the director. A special so-called shark-skin: ten thousand plates on the walls featuring "teeth" and depressions and wave-patterns that should reflect accoustic waves from every place to any other place inside the hall. A visually reflective outside design that mirrors the whole city panorama and sometimes makes the building melt with the sky, making it in parts "invisible", breaking up its silhouette. The concert hall like a bubble "hung up" on strings and stabilised with springs inside the surrounding tower to isolate it from the accoustics of the river Elbe washing against the artificial island, like the inside of a submarine is "hung up" inside the outer hull to accoustically isolate it towards the sea. Extremely difficult architecture and construction, and a most dilletantic planning process in the first years. And stellar costs.

The Berlin Philharmonic is the accoustic reference I have personal experience with, the accoustic indeed is extremely well in there, its phenomenal. But they say it is almost outclassed, compared to that in the new Elbe Philharmonic. Well, thats what they say. I will consider to test it myself and wait for a live concert I could be interested in. By train, its a bit over 2 hours for me from here to Hamburg, and then unknown bus lines in the city.

The costs however imo are horrendous and cannot be justified. Not in these times, not in that city. For the construction, I mean, not for the trip. :D

I wonder about the static ands safety, however. That has been a big problem, and the constructing companies repeatedly almost quit over that, quoting security concerns, and refused to take responsibility. Building this thing was othign but a nightmare that lasted for over ten years.

The Philharmonic also features one of the biggest organs ever build world-wide.

The accoustics have been calculated by Japanese. Who else. Japanese excel in this kind of stuff. Each of the ten thousand wall panels has been individually calculated - for it place where it is situated, and in its pattern and individual surface structure. There are no two plates that are identical to each other, I saw on TV, all of them are individual. The work done on this alone - accoustics -, is second to none currently. No other concert hall has been as excessively calculated.

The surrounding so-called Hafencity in Hamburg currently is the biggest construction site in Europe. Its a grid of "islands" on which old storehouses were build, separated by channels. The city has high-flying plans for it. And no money. Strange world.

http://cdn3.spiegel.de/images/image-1068002-galleryV9-muoe-1068002.jpg

http://cdn4.spiegel.de/images/image-1067797-galleryV9-wdin-1067797.jpg

http://www.ingenieur.de/var/storage/images/media/ingenieur.de/bilder/deckenstruktur-in-elbphilharmonie/4309414-1-ger-DE/Deckenstruktur-in-der-Elbphilharmonie_image_width_884.jpg

http://www.ingenieur.de/var/storage/images/media/ingenieur.de/bilder/oberflaeche-im-grossen-saal-gips-papier/4309420-1-ger-DE/Oberflaeche-im-Grossen-Saal-aus-Gips-und-Papier_image_width_884.jpg

Jimbuna
11-05-16, 07:57 AM
So now we know where all the UK contributions to the EU have been spent!! :o

Catfish
11-05-16, 08:13 AM
Had Kaiser William built that, the colonies would sure be impressed. :yep:

u crank
11-05-16, 08:17 AM
Yea, some people got rich of of that thing.:yep:

Oberon
11-05-16, 08:18 AM
Honestly, from time to time, you need to spend a bit of money on vanity projects like this. Germany should feel proud (if such a thing is allowed by law) of this construction.

Skybird
01-10-17, 05:35 PM
A drone flight through the Elbephilharmonie, from a visitor's perspective: Entré, stairs, balcony, grand music hall.

https://countdown.elbphilharmonie.de/de/slowmotion/?_escaped_fragment_=/#!/

Note that there are two films. You get the second, accelerated flight if you press and hold SPACE. Its not just faster, but also different material with different perspectives.

Looks very futuristic, like a deck on starship Enterprise.

Commander Wallace
01-11-17, 07:46 AM
It really is an impressive concert hall.

Moonlight
01-11-17, 09:16 AM
^An impressive price tag as well, €780 million for a bleeding concert hall, you've all gone mad. :doh:
@Skybird, do you know what the running costs of that thing is?, if its around the same price as a toilet brush (€300) its going to be expensive to take a leak in there. :yep:
https://www.thelocal.de/20131118/overbudget-concert-hall-spends-on-toilet-brush

Skybird
01-11-17, 03:00 PM
^An impressive price tag as well, €780 million for a bleeding concert hall, you've all gone mad. :doh:
@Skybird, do you know what the running costs of that thing is?, if its around the same price as a toilet brush (€300) its going to be expensive to take a leak in there. :yep:
https://www.thelocal.de/20131118/overbudget-concert-hall-spends-on-toilet-brush
I do not know the answer to your question, but I stumble dover this, which puts thigns a bit into perspective. An comparison on how much prestigious projects were over the budget.

The Elbphilhamroie number olooks strange, howerer, the costs have been around three qzarters of a billion while intiially only a tenth of that money was annoucned and planned with, Where they got that 150% marker, i do not know.

http://cdn4.spiegel.de/images/image-1093653-galleryV9-vndc-1093653.jpg
Costs for the suites in the included hotel range from 300 to 3000 Euros per night.

BTW, right this very moment the opening ceremony and opening concert is running.

In the past 4 weeks I had various private business dates in Hamburg, and travelled there four times via train. From a distance, the thing looks completely unobtrusive. :)

Skybird
01-11-17, 05:14 PM
Star Trek - or Close Encounters of the Third Kind...?

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/images/z/19224388/2-format10.jpg

From this (1923)...
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/images/03-der-kaispeicher-a-auch-kaiserspeicher-genannt-1929-foto-elbphilharmonie/19223982/2-format10.jpg

... over this (1967) ...
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/images/02_der-wiederaufgebaute-kaispeicher-a-1967-deutlich-zu-erkennen-ist-das-grosse-fenster-links-das-heute-den-grandiosen-blick-auf-die-elbe-und-die-landungsbruecken-freigibt-fot-zoch/19223980/2-format10.jpg

... to that:
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/images/06-querschnitt-durch-die-elbphilharmonie-web_klein_c_herzog__de_meuron_bloomimages/19223984/2-format11.jpg