The vineyard style is a design of a concert hall where the seating surrounds the stage, rising up in serried rows in the manner of the sloping terraces of a vineyard. It may be contrasted with the shoebox style, which has a rectangular auditorium and a stage at one end (as at the Musikverein). Other possibilities are the fan-shaped (as at the Barbican) and the arena (as at the Royal Albert Hall). The design might be considered a musical theatre in the round.[1][2][3]

History

When faced with designing a new home for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to replace Die alte Philharmonie, destroyed by bombing in 1944, architect Hans Scharoun observed that "people always gather in circles when listening to music informally".[3] His design won the ensuing competition, with Herbert von Karajan writing to the judges "of all the designs submitted, one seems to stand out above the others... founded on the principle that the performers should be in the middle... the deployment of the walls certainly makes good sense acoustically, but the most impressive of all is the complete concentration of the listener on the musical event".[4]

Following the example of the Berliner Philharmonie, the first example in the New World was the Sala Nezahualcoyotl of 1976 in Mexico City.[5] The style is now found globally.[2] For the Philharmonie de Paris, the vineyard concept is extended with balconies rather than banked terraces.[6]

Acoustics

Main articles: Acoustics, Architectural acoustics, and Acoustical engineering

Echoes occur when there is an audible gap between the direct sound and its reflection.[7] The walls surrounding the stage on which the seats are banked help provide the early reflections of sound from the side that are generally considered favourable.[8][3][2] Installation of acoustic reflectors is another way of solving the problem.[9]

Notable examples

Concert Hall Exterior Opened Location Architect Acoustics Capacity Auditorium
Berliner Philharmonie[4] 1963 Berlin, Germany Hans Scharoun Lothar Cremer 2440
Gewandhaus[10] 1981 Leipzig, Germany Rudolf Skoda Wolfgang Fasold 1900
Suntory Hall[11][12] 1986 Tokyo, Japan Yasui Architects Nagata Acoustics 2006
Sapporo Concert Hall[13][2] 1997 Sapporo, Japan Hokkaido Engineering Consultant Company Nagata Acoustics 2008
Walt Disney Concert Hall[14][2] 2003 Los Angeles, USA Frank O. Gehry Nagata Acoustics 2265
Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall[15] 2004 Kawasaki, Japan MHS Planners, Architects & Engineers Ltd. Nagata Acoustics 1997
Koncerthuset[16][17][18] 2006 Copenhagen, Denmark Jean Nouvel Nagata Acoustics 1800
Shenzhen Concert Hall[19][20] 2007 Shenzhen, China Arata Isozaki Nagata Acoustics 1680
Helsinki Music Centre[21][22][23] 2011 Helsinki, Finland Architectural office Laiho-Pulkkinen-Raunio Nagata Acoustics 1704
Philharmonie de Paris[24] 2015 Paris, France Jean Nouvel Marshall Day Acoustics and Nagata Acoustics 2400
Elbphilharmonie[25][26] 2017 Hamburg, Germany Herzog & de Meuron Nagata Acoustics 2150
National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts[27][28] 2018 Kaohsiung, Taiwan Francine Houben Albert Yaying Xu 2000

References

  1. ^ Beranek, Leo L. (1992). "Concert hall acoustics—1992". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Acoustical Society of America. 92 (1): 1–39. Bibcode:1992ASAJ...92....1B. doi:10.1121/1.404283. Archived from the original on 2012-07-01.
  2. ^ a b c d e Adams, Richard (2 July 2011). "Aspen Ideas Festival: How the vineyard style trumped the shoebox". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Concert Hall Acoustics: Art and Science". University of Salford. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  4. ^ a b Osborne, Richard (1998). Herbert von Karajan: A Life in Music. Chatto & Windus. pp. 475f. ISBN 1-55553-425-2.
  5. ^ Jaffe, Christopher; Rivera, Carlos (2002). "The first vineyard concert hall in North America". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Acoustical Society of America. 112 (5): 2255–2256. Bibcode:2002ASAJ..112.2255J. doi:10.1121/1.4778988. Archived from the original on 2012-07-08.
  6. ^ "Making acoustic choices for the future symphony hall". Philharmonie de Paris. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  7. ^ Sadie, Stanley, ed. (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 1. pp. 70–97. ISBN 978-0-19-517067-2.
  8. ^ Cremer, Lothar (1987). "Early lateral reflections in modern concert halls". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Acoustical Society of America. 81 (1): 52. Bibcode:1987ASAJ...81...52F. doi:10.1121/1.2024280. Archived from the original on 2012-07-07.
  9. ^ Wei-hwa Chiang (et al.) (2010). "Stage acoustics for vineyard concert hall" (PDF). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Room Acoustics, ISRA 2010.
  10. ^ "Great Hall". Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Suntory Hall - Facilities". Suntory Hall. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  12. ^ "Suntory Hall" (PDF). Nagata Acoustics. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  13. ^ "Sapporo Concert Hall" (PDF). Nagata Acoustics. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  14. ^ "Walt Disney Concert Hall" (PDF). Nagata Acoustics. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  15. ^ "Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall - Facilities". Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  16. ^ "Danish Radio Concert Hall, Copenhagen". Nagata Acoustics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  17. ^ Hewett, Ivan (4 February 2009). "The new Copenhagen concert hall: It looks seductive and sounds terrific". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  18. ^ "Koncerthuset - Presentation" (PDF). Koncerthuset. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  19. ^ "International Activities - Shenzhen Concert Hall's Symphony Hall, Shenzhen". Nagata Acoustics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  20. ^ Oguchi Keiji; Toyota Yasuhisa (2008). "Acoustical design of Shenzhen Concert Hall, Shenzhen China". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Acoustical Society of America. 123 (5): 2973. Bibcode:2008ASAJ..123.2973T. doi:10.1121/1.2932462. Archived from the original on 2012-07-01.
  21. ^ "International Activities - Helsinki Music Centre". Nagata Acoustics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  22. ^ "Helsinki's new Music Centre garners rave reviews". Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland). Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  23. ^ "Helsinki Music Centre Concert Halls and Other Spaces". Helsinki Music Centre. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  24. ^ "Making acoustic choices for the future symphony hall". Philharmonie de Paris. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  25. ^ "International Activities - Elbephilharmonie, Hamburg". Nagata Acoustics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  26. ^ "Elbphilharmonie - The Project". Elbphilharmonie. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  27. ^ "Wei-Wu-Ying Performing Arts Centre". xu-acoustique. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  28. ^ "About Weiwuying". National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts. Retrieved 28 October 2019.

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