Theatre Analysis in Focus: Beethoven Concert Hall Theatre Analysis in Focus: Beethoven Concert Hall

Theatre Analysis in Focus: Beethoven Concert Hall

The Beethoven Concert Hall will be the main venue for the Beethovenfest classical music festival and the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, as well as a platform for top international musicians. For this reason, it need to meet the very highest of standards in terms of acoustic and architectural quality. In order to achieve world-class acoustic environment, the competition team worked closely with theatre specialists from Theateradvies and Arup. This post shares some of the design process which didn’t make it into our Theatre Analysis booklet.

From the beginning, Arup contributed references of world-class theatres. Most of them are based on a ‘Shoe Box’ model, for which Arup prepared engineering options.

Assorted international references based on a 'Shoe Box' model

Engineering options prepared by Arup, based on the 'Shoe Box' model

Later the team confirmed 'Box in a Box' as the main concept of the auditorium.

The 'Box in a Box' organisation

Based on the ‘Box in a Box’ organisation, we prepared several interior options for the auditorium, as well as simulations of predicted acoustic effects. We compared the Beethoven Concert Hall with such existing buildings as Carnegie Hall in New York and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Various interior options prepared by UNStudio, based on the 'Box in a Box' model

Carnegie Hall in New York

Concertgebouw in Amsterdam

Acoustic simulations

For the auditorium lighting design, we sought to create the feeling of entering into a warm and welcoming space, like a well-aged instrument. We did this by adopting materials and supportive lighting strategies.

Lighting design accentuates the space's warmth

With the auditorium design confirmed, the team developed three options for the building envelope. While the auditorium placement remained consistent in each iteration, the approaches to the size and shape of the building volume as well as the interior circulation network varied widely.

UNStudio Team: Jingbo Yan, Alexander Kalachev, René Wysk, Maud van Hees, Nanang Santoso, Filippo Lodi