Hamburg is a beautiful water city and port city in northern Germany. It is the birthplace of great composers Brahms and Mendelssohn, and where the Beatles spent their youth.

In this city, which stretches along the banks of the Elbe River, I walked along cobblestone streets and crossed numerous bridges wherever I went. It was a cold day in mid-March, with temperatures below 10°C, but I still stopped many times to admire the beauty of the canals. Hamburg's first World Heritage Site, the red brick warehouse district of Speicherstadt, was a world beyond time and space, retaining the landscape of the 19th century.




At the westernmost edge of HafenCity, a redeveloped area on the north bank of the Elbe River, stands an eye-catching piece of modern architecture. The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (commonly known as Elfie) is a futuristic, 111-meter-tall (26-story) building with a wavy glass structure atop a brick facility that was once used as a warehouse. Opened in January 2017, it has become a symbolic concert hall of Hamburg.

Elbphilharmonie © Michael Zapf


The building was designed by Herzog & de Meuron, a Swiss architectural firm known for designing the Prada Aoyama store in Tokyo (2003) and the Tate Modern in London (2000). The building's most distinctive feature is its glass facade. The exterior, made up of approximately 1,000 curved windows, reflects the sky, sunlight, and the colors of the city, resonating with the surface of the canal. The dynamic form of the rooftop is reminiscent of a tuning fork.

Elbphilharmonie © Michael Zapf

Entering the building through the ticket entrance on the first floor leads to a pure white tunnel-like escalator. With no boundaries between ceiling and walls and no end in sight, the escalator gently ascends 82 meters in length over the course of around four minutes, changing incline many times along the way. (There was a scene like this in a certain sci-fi movie based on 2001!)




Once you reach the top of the 8th floor, you'll come out into the concert hall's foyer (lobby). This public area, known as the Plaza, offers a 360-degree view of the Elbe River, HafenCity, the old town, and more from a height of 37 meters above ground. You can enter up to this point with a free "Plaza Ticket." Incidentally, it seems you can be sure to see the hall if you book your preferred date and time in advance (for 2 euros) on the official website. This floor is also home to restaurants, cafes, shops, and the lobby of The Westin Hamburg Hotel.

Plaza © Iwan Baan

Although I wasn't able to attend a concert that day, I did take part in a guided press tour and had a look around the hall, so here is a short report on the Grand Hall, the main of the two halls. (Guided tours are also available to the public, so you can see the hall floors even if you're not attending a concert.)

The acoustic design of this concert hall was entrusted to Yasuhisa Toyoda, the master architect who also designed Suntory Hall (1986), one of the world's most famous halls. The Grand Hall, which can accommodate approximately 2,000 people, is designed in a vineyard style, similar to Suntory Hall, with the audience seating surrounding the stage 360 degrees. As the name suggests, all seats face the stage in terraced rows. The arched ceiling, walls, and aisles have irregular curves, creating a rather complex shape. The interior surface is covered with approximately 10,000 plaster acoustic panels. Sound is transmitted from the panels to the audience via a large reflector suspended from the center of the ceiling. It is said that the hall itself is designed to act as an instrument, with sound pouring down on every seat.

Grand Hall © Michael Zapf

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg / Grand Hall © Michael Zapf

On the Elbphilharmonie's website, Yasuhisa Toyoda quotes him as follows: "I know that I have done my job as an acoustician well when audiences no longer perceive the large distance to the music." I still think about how wonderful the experience must be when there is no distance between the performers and the audience.



Google We were able to sneak inside the Grand Hall using Maps Street View.


Although originally planned in 2010, the facility was repeatedly postponed until its long-awaited grand opening. Toyoda was not the only Japanese involved in its construction. The three Steinway pianos delivered to Empf Philharmonic were selected by pianist Mitsuko Uchida. Uchida gave a piano recital at the hall's opening performance in January 2017.


Grand Hall Foyer © src="/images/upload/2019/05/f13754d57c4274dbda49954b5e2cdbdd.jpg" alt="" />Grand Hall Foyer © Iwan Baan

Grand Hall Foyer © Iwan Baan

The unique design is not limited to the exterior and concert hall, but also extends to the staircase and foyer, making it a visual treat just to be there. The unique glass facade seen from the outside can now be seen up close from the inside like this.

Finally, we'd like to introduce the movie "Window Waltz." It is a story created by Empf Philharmonic to prove that "everyone has musical talent." Please take a look♩

ELBPHILHARMONIE
Address: Platz der Deutschen Einheit 20457 Hamburg
URL: https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/de/

Ihara Iori