The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg Grand Hall
Welcome to the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. You are standing on the stage of the Grand Hall, the centrepiece of the concert house. The terraced seating for the audience around the stage is called the vineyard principle.
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The Grand Hall
The Grand Hall can seat over 2.100 people. The architecture is inspired by three classic structures: the ancient theatre at Delphi where the audience sits around the stage; the architecture of sport stadiums designed to accommodate a mass of people in a confined space and the tent - the simplest man-made structure in human society.
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The tiers are terrace-formed, like a vineyard, around the stage so that every member of the audience has a perfect view.
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The Reflector
Hanging above us is a funnel shaped 50 ton reflector. Its purpose is to make sure that the sound created by an orchestra is evenly distributed around the hall.
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The Organ
The concert organ is integrated into the Grand Hall. It has 5.000 pipes, measures 15 metres in height and width and is built over 3 levels of the hall behind the seating.
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The Stage
The musicians access the stage from both sides. When an orchestra is playing a concert the stage can be raised and stepped.
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Close up view of the organ
A hands-on experience of the Elbphilharmonie organ is encouraged. Some of the 5.000 organ pipes that are in the hall can be touched.
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Fixed Console
A fixed mechanical console is directly attached to the organ where instrument can be played by hand and foot. Different sets of pipes, called registers, can be turned on and off from the console, creating a variety of sounds.
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Mobile Console
The organ can also be played from the stage using a second, mobile, console. As opposed to the fixed console, the mobile version is connected electronically rather than mechanically to the organ pipes.
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The Acoustics
The acoustic concept was developed by one of the world's best acousticians, Yasuhisa Toyota. He calculated the acoustics of the Grand Hall on a computer with the help of complex 3D models.
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The White Skin
The walls of the Grand Hall are covered with a so-called “white skin” composed of around 10.000 individually moulded gypsum panels which guarantee an optimal listening experience from any seat.
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The Seating
The seats in the Grand Hall are multifunctional and compacter than normal seats allowing better acoustics. Children can sit on a folded-up chair for a better view and the seats can also be easily removed for wheelchair access.
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The Organ
To make space for nearly 5.000 pipes the organ stretches over 3 tiers. The pipe lengths range from 11 millimetres to over 10 metres. They are mostly made of tin alloy and nearly 400 are made of up to 180 year old wood.
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The organ interior
Here you can view the interior of the Elbphilharmonie organ. This is a small part of the various spaces where the organ pipes are. In total there are 380 wooden pipes some of which are made out of 180 year old wood as well as around 4300 metal pipes.
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Metal Pipes
The tone of a pipe is dependent on its length. The shortest pipe has a so-called speaking length of only 11 millimetres and creates a very high tone of 15.600 Hertz which is barely audible to the human ear.
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Wooden Pipes
This organ’s longest pipe is wooden and is over 10 metres long. It spans many tiers of the building. The deepest tone (16 hertz) sounds like a muffled tingling.
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The Abstracts
The organ pipes are played using long wooden connections called “abstracts”. By pressing keys on the console the abstracts open air vents on the pipes to produce tones. The Elbphilharmonie pipes have a combined length of around 700 metres.
