Helsinki Music Center

Design of a concert hall.

Addressing the topic of local history, alternative relationship between man and nature, combination of biotope and open-space concept

The Helsinki Music Center is a concert hall in Töölönlahti, Helsinki. The building is home to Sibelius Academy and two symphony orchestras. The Music Centre is located on a site between the Finlandia Hall (Alvar Aalto) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Steven Holl) just across the street from the Parliament of Finland. The main concert hall seats 1,700 people. The building contains five smaller rooms for 140–400 listeners. These include a chamber music hall, a chamber opera hall, an organ hall, a ‘black box’ room for electrically amplified music and a rehearsal hall. The smaller rooms are used regularly by the students of Sibelius Academy for their training and student concerts.

A large part of the Music Centre’s volume is placed underground in order to keep the roof of the building in line with its neighbours. A wide terrace covers the underground structure and forms a part of an open park in front of the Parliament House.

PROJECT DATA

 


Urd carved from driftwood, Photography, 41.1 x 54.6 cm, 1997

 


Site

 

MCB-05
Skin

 

MCB-06
Foyer

 

MCB-07
Bar

 

MCB-08
Terrace

 

MCB-09
Open park

 

MCB-10-UG
Floor plan basement

 

MCB-10-EG-
Floor plan ground floor

MCB-10-1OG
Floor plan first floor

 

MCB-10-2OG
Floor plan second floor

 

ProgramConcert hall with practice/classrooms, library, radio station, restaurant and shops
StatusInternational realization competition
LocationParliament district, Helsinki, Finland
ClientMunicipality of Helsinki
AreaCompetition area 324200 m2, TSA 24000 m2 , USA 19200 m2
ConstructionWood frame construction with solid wood infill, sheets of casting glass
ServicesProgram and location analyses, strategic development, artistic concept, technical concept, design planning, visualisation
Date1999

TOP ↑