| NEWS | DESIGN | BUILDING | DESIGN TOOLS | ENVIRONMENT | CULTURE |
| DESIGN | ||
|
|
Magic Blue Box | |
|
|
7 World Trade Center | |
|
Magic Blue Box A striking visual element in the main hall is the series of computer-numerical-controlled- (CNC-) milled stained plywood wall surfaces defining the small seating terraces. These walls have both reflective and absorptive acoustic properties, and textured grooves designed for sound scattering. The ceiling is a series of overlapping lacquered birch veneer panels designed as the heaviest and most rigid area, reflecting all frequency ranges to the audience area. To ensure correct reproduction of deep tones, the upper "wave walls" are also very heavy and are composed of up to six layers of plasterboard. The ceiling height is approximately 23.5 meters (77 feet) at the highest point to achieve a relatively long reverberation time. Suspended from the ceiling above the stage area is a sound-reflector canopy designed to allow the musicians on stage to hear themselves and also improving sound quality for the audience around the stage area. By design, the space can be adapted to accommodate a variety of acoustic requirements. If the music is not symphonic, enormous curtains can be pulled across the back of the stage to increase the sound absorption of the room. The sound-reflector canopy above the stage area can also be raised and lowered for acoustical tuning and maintenance. Acoustic Tools Toyota says the main acoustic design tool was a detailed parametric computer model created in the early stages of the project using custom CAD software produced by Nagata. "The CAD model allowed us to test and change the room shape, the ceiling height and other big things very quickly," says Toyota. "It is at the basic design stages where these major decisions need to be made." A physical model was produced later in the design process and used for testing. "We made a huge 1:10 scale model as a way to test the space," he says. The model was a key to understanding the projected performance of the space. Toyota and his team learned from the model's performance and fine-tuned the design based on the tested results. "We were able to find detrimental echoes and we could fix them by changing angles and in some cases even changing materials," he says. The asymmetrical design of the seating and internal wall arrangements posed a challenge. "If the seating and layout are symmetrical, then we usually can build and measure only half of the design, but here, because of the nature of the geometry, we had to build and measure a model of it all," explains Toyota. The concert hall is the fourth and final building in DR Byen ("DR City"), the 132,000-square-meter (1.42 million-square-foot) complex of offices, meeting spaces, and TV, radio, and orchestral production facilities for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). The 26,000-square-meter (280,000-square-foot) concert hall project suffered massive cost overruns — the local press estimates the final cost at about DKK 1.7 billion (or about $325 million) — making this perhaps the most expensive concert hall in the world. Nagata also consulted the Danish National Symphony and other musicians to get the user perspective. "The design of the stage layout and orchestra is very unique," says Toyota. "All orchestras including the DR Orchestra have their own style, and so we spent time and discussed these layouts with them many times. It is important to focus on the music and the musicians." The Magic Blue Box The real test for a concert hall is not visual, but aural. And by this measure, the main hall has been a critical success. The experience of hearing a concert is immersive: the sound is clear, and the quirky, clustered seating layout brings an air of intimacy to the large space. The golden hues combined with the acoustic clarity confer a sense of warmth. The visitor is left with a sense that the building is a study in contrasts: the squareness of the outer shell belies the faceted, highly complex interior spaces discovered within, just as the open, undeveloped landscape contrasts sharply with the intimate seating arrangements in the main hall. When Nouvel designed the concept for the 45-meter- (148-foot-) tall building as a blue screen in the landscape, it was intended as a beacon to lure visitors to the near-empty site. By the time the building opened in January 2009, this southern area of the city had several more construction projects in the works. The site is near an area master-planned by architect Daniel Libeskind, and is surrounded by a mix of new high-quality architecture, such as the new Technical University of Copenhagen (ITU) buildings by Henning Larsen, with media screens by designer John Maeda. But the concert hall also counts among its neighbors some low-rise postwar housing and empty parking lots. It is hoped that the "magic blue box," as it has been dubbed in the local press, will bring visitors and business to Ørestad and help jumpstart the area. Nouvel has managed to create a world-class national concert venue for Copenhagen — something the city previously lacked — as well as the local heart for a growing community, mixing practical and high-performance Danish modernism with jubilant and theatrical French avant garde. >>> Discuss this article in the Architecture Forum...
|
|
|
