Home > Magazine > Issues > #38 Mar/Apr 2011 > Concert hall, Warsaw

Concert hall, Warsaw

Concert hall

WARSAW (PL) - Thomas Pucher fences off a park with suspended walls.

Founded in 1984, the world-renowned Sinfonia Varsovia has never had a home of its own. Finally, after 25 years, the City of Warsaw presented the orchestra with the site of the former Veterinary Institute in the centre of the Praga South district. During the last decade this once neglected neighbourhood, most of which had survived World War II, has been undergoing economic and cultural regeneration. The new 1800-seat concert hall, together with an arts centre and several other cultural clusters – plus easy accessibility once the planned second metro line opens – will create a strong hub of cultural activity and a landmark in Praga South.

From the 137 designs entered in the first stage of the international competition for the new hall, which closed in November 2010, the jury selected a shortlist of ten. The second stage was won by Atelier Thomas Pucher (Graz, Austria) with a remarkable interpretation of the spatial and strategic guidelines of the competition brief. Pucher's team proposes surrounding the park containing the old Veterinary Institute buildings with a wall suspended several metres above the ground and supported only at its corners. The space thus created – a garden 'enclave' for art and recreation – would be open to pedestrians while preserving its physical and symbolic isolation from its surroundings. A path running along the top of the wall, which can be accessed by 'secret' stairs, offers views of the neighbouring park, the main road and the internal park, laid out with 'samples' of historical garden compositions.

Pucher was not the only contestant to propose fencing off the entire site. Grupa Projektowa Centrala (who received an honourable mention) suggested integrating all facilities under one huge roof; Mąka, Sojka Architekci (2nd prize) surrounded the existing pavilions with new ones; and Hermanowicz and Rewski (equal 2nd prize) enclosed the historical site with the new concert halls. But Thomas Pucher's proposal was judged to be the best response to the request to create 'a mysterious place and identity that escapes unequivocal classification', while also treating the concert hall's interior and surroundings with the same attention to detail.

The old pavilions will be renovated to house administrative and auxiliary functions. The concert hall itself, along with additional music rooms, is housed in a new rectangular volume enclosed by the north garden wall. The hybrid structure of the main hall floats inside the rectangular building, combining the acoustic properties of a modern 'black box' with an arena-like proximity between audience and stage.

The design suggests a convincing scenario for the activation of the public space the centre is supposed to create, while avoiding the typical solution of a dominant architectural form (as in the design by Zaha Hadid, another 2nd prize winner). The architects included such details as plant species for the garden and a wood finish for the auditorium's balconies that facilitates good sound dispersion. The proposal's strong points are its clear solution and consistency. Possible drawbacks are the extent of its interventions and their irreversibility, together with anticipated constructional difficulties. The Sinfonia Varsovia Centre is scheduled to be completed in 2016, the same year in which Warsaw hopes to be European Capital of Culture.