The Creation of the Elbphilharmonie

The wind and waves, the toots of the ships’ horns and the buzzing of the elevated trains, construction site noises and the squawking of the seagulls – this characterises Hamburg. The new monument Elbphilharmonie should blend into this beautiful scenery.

At the beginning of construction, the Kaispeicher, a warehouse was gutted completely; only the outside brick façade remained. An additional 650 steel -reinforced concrete piles were added to the foundation’s1,111 to support the further weight of the 200,000 tonnes Elbphilharmonie. This foundation houses the Elbphilharmonie entrance area including the escalator. The car park as well as the backstage rooms and the Kaistudio are also located in the foundation.

The audience sitting in the stalls will almost feel like part of the action, others will be able to look directly at the conductor and observe his or her dialogue with the orchestra. The intimacy of the hall is increased by the steep rise of the balconies. The height from orchestra pit to ceiling is 30 metres, the width from one side of the hall to the other is only 40 metres. This brings the audience and musicians close to one another. This intimacy is reminiscent of a mixture between La Scala in Milan and the Philharmonie in Berlin.

The organ in the Grand Hall also honours the idea of Elbphilharmonie as a »concert hall for everyone«: it does not hover somewhere high up and out of reach, but is built into the seats traversing three floors of the hall.