Andermatt Concert Hall
Location: Andermatt, Switzerland
Scope: Concert Hall
Area: GEA 2,072m2
Budget: 16m CHF
Completion Date: June 2019
Client: Andermatt Swiss Alps & BESIX
Architect: Studio Seilern Architects
Acoustic Consultant: Kahle Acoustics
Theatre Consultant: Ducks Sceno
Structural Engineering: Suisseplan
MEP: BESIX
Landscape Design: Hager
Fire Consultant: AFC
Lighting Design: MichaelJosefHeusi GmbH
Contractor: BESIX
Photographs: Roland Halbe, Kanipak Photography
BESIX and the Andermatt Swiss Alps development are transforming the traditional Swiss Alpine village of Andermatt into one of the world’s finest year-round destinations, boasting some of the best alpine and off-piste skiing facilities in Europe and fast becoming one of Switzerland’s largest resorts.
The new village square will host multiple hotels, residential and chalet facilities, and as part of this new development, Studio Seilern Architects was commissioned to design a world-class concert facility located at the heart of the resort.
The project transforms an existing underground space of approximately 2,000m3 which was originally intended to be used for conventions and events for nearby hotels.
Studio Seilern Architects proposed lifting a large section of the existing roof to double the acoustic volume up to 5,340 m3, increasing the total capacity to able to host a 75-piece, full symphony orchestra and a total of 663 audience seats.
Raising the roof gave us the opportunity to create a sculptural object within the new village and rethink the traditional notion of a concert hall as a closed and inward-looking space. By adding a glass façade, the concert hall is awash with natural light. The romantic idea was that at a winter concert, the audience would be surrounded by a whirlwind of snow, and in the summer, surrounded by nature and sunshine. From street level, acoustic reflectors are seen as floating over an empty space, like a sculpture that has been placed as public art. Passers-by can then see into the concert hall and indeed see an audience and an orchestra as a spectacle from the street. Concerts act as an active frontage to the pedestrian street, rather than the usually closed-off box that this building typology usually offers.
Due to the planning parameters of the site, only a portion of the roof could be elevated, making the stage configuration awkward and undesirable. Therefore, a centralised stage concept was adopted to create a symmetrical space, allowing the right early reflections to travel through differing ceiling heights and side balconies. The origami configuration of the interior of the hall was devised with Kahle Acoustics to create well-balanced, natural acoustics. The hall is also equipped with an electro-acoustic system that allows a greater reverberation time for louder orchestral ensembles to perform with optimum acoustics within this unique space.
