Ostrava Concert Hall named one of the world’s Top 10 current architectural projects

A planned concert hall in Ostrava has been named one of the 10 most interesting architectural projects by online magazine Architizer.

The ranking is meant to show how some of the architecture world’s leading stars are creating landmarks for the future. “From conceptual planning to construction, some of the world’s upcoming icons are already underway. These are the projects set aim to form a focal point for the locations in which they are constructed, providing a civic value that extends far beyond each project’s boundary,” Eric Baldwin said of his list.

Ostrava Concert Hall is designed by Steven Holl Architects, a New York based firm known for the REACH expansion of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2019); the Hunters Point Library in New York (2019); the Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri (2007); the Linked Hybrid complex in Beijing (2009); and the 2004 Simmons Hall at MIT.

The planned 1,300 seat zinc-clad concert hall in Ostrava will straddle the existing Dům kultury (Culture Center). The building, according to the architects. was designed as a “perfect acoustic instrument in its case” in collaboration with Nagata Acoustics. The new building will provide performance space for the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, a leading Czech orchestra for commissioning contemporary music.

The building is designed to resemble a case from a music instrument when seen from above. Construction on the building will begin in 2022, and the first concerts should take place in 2024. The cost of the building is estimated at 1.5 billion CZK, without VAT. The city, region and Czech state will participate in funding the concert hall’s construction.

The contrast of the intertwined old and new buildings is supposed to be a symbol of Ostrava moving into a new direction for the future, while retaining its important past.

Ostrava used to be an industrial center, but in recent years it has been trying to reinvent itself as an arts and culture capital.

“Ostrava needs top architecture, and I believe that thanks to its uniqueness, [Ostrava Concert Hall] will become an important tourist destination not only on the map of the Czech Republic in a few years,” Ostrava Mayor Tomáš Macura told the Czech edition of Forbes magazine.

Other cities such as Sydney with its opera house and Bilbao with its Guggenheim Museum have turned modern architecture into municipal symbols that helped to put them on the world map.

Macura added that the new hall would also help to boost the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra into the spotlight. The ensemble was founded in 1954 but has never has a dedicated concert hall with good acoustics. They have been using a ball room in Dům kultury, which was not designed as a musical venue.

The new concert hall is being designed with acoustics in mind thanks to the help of Japan’s Nagata Acoustics. The consultancy has participated in the design of over 70 concert hall in Japan and a number of international projects including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Danish Radio Concert Hall and the Helsinki Music Centre.

Janáček Philharmonic’s director Jan Žemla said the improved acoustics would help the ensemble to develop its potential and reach a wider international audience.

In the long term, the hall will generate money from leasing its large and chamber halls as well as smaller lounges and a recording studio. There will also be a café and restaurant in the complex.

Steven Holl Architects + Architecture Acts won the competition for the new hall in July 2019, with support of six of the seven jury members.

“It is a fantastic piece of architecture considering very well the relationship between the City of Ostrava and the park behind the existing building. I believe the winning project will be an emblematic piece of architecture for Ostrava revitalizing the city as well,” jury member Krzysztof Ingarden said in 2019 when the winner of the competition was announced.

The building is shielded from urban traffic noise because the hall faces an existing park. A new entrance on the promenade rises over the top of the existing historical Dům kultury in a sky-lit lobby for the new hall.

“The smooth case of zinc holds an ‘instrument’ in an extended vineyard-type plan made of concrete and maple wood. Acoustic wall panels are organized according to three variants,” Steven Holl Architects said in a press release.

Several of the other projects named on Architizer’s list of future landmarks have Czech connections.

Projects by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Herzog & de Meuron, Studio Gang, OMA, Studio Libeskind, and Santiago Calatrava also made the Architizer’s list.