The Pierre Boulez Concert Hall is Berlin may be conceived as one of the quietly-designed projects of Frank Gehry, which opens its doors to the public this weekend with a special gala concert under the direction of Daniel Barenboim on March 4. Berlin's Pierre Boulez Hall was designed by American architect Frank Gehry with world-renowned Japanese acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, who leads Nagata Acoustics in Tokyo, LA and Paris.

After a four-year building programme that has gone entirely according to plan, Berlin’s new Pierre Boulez Hall will open with a gala concert with honorary guest, German President Joachim Gauckhe. The newly formed Boulez Ensemble will present works by Boulez, Schubert, Mozart, Jörg Widmann and Alban Berg. The inaugural concert will be live on ARTE from 18:00.

Image © Volker Kreidler

The Pierre Boulez Saal is part of the conversion of the former stage depot of the State Opera Unter den Linden, the Magazin, into the Barenboim-Said Akademie. Summoned into existence by Daniel Barenboim, the Academy began its teaching programme in the autumn of 2016. 

Located at the cultural heart of Berlin, the new concert hall has seating for 700 and offers a range of possibilities with its elliptical shape and flexible stage design. 

Image © Volker Kreidler

Both Frank Gehry and Yasuhisa Toyota have generously donated their services to the Barenboim–Said Academy and renounced any fee for their work. Frank Gehry has assimilated Daniel Barenboim’s impulses into his design with like- minded brilliance, and the new hall is designed for maximum flexibility. 

Image © Volker Kreidler

The two artfully interlocking ellipses create an impression of awe-inspiring weightlessness, and the setting can be changed depending on the number of players and, above all, the repertoire. 

Each vantage point offers a different take on the concert, and even the performers will constantly discover new perspectives within the space. There is room for well-loved works and for new discoveries; for unexpected sounds and those with which we feel comfortable. 

Image © Volker Kreidler

The hall seats up to 682 visitors—a capacity that is unique in Berlin. Encompassing a total of 990 square meters (10,660 square feet) space, sound and art's intimacy allows solo musicians to appear with the same integrity as chamber formations, and yet the space can also be adapted to fit a medium-sized orchestra.

The structure of this aesthetically and technically modern hall offers countless ways to fill the spectacular, organic building with life. The idea of a ''sale modulable'' is the defining concept. It is the expression of an ideal that highlights unity and inspires creativity in all those who cross the threshold of the Pierre Boulez Saal.

Image © Volker Kreidler

''This is a hall with enormous plasticity and flexibility, a ''sale modulable'' that encompasses a full sweep of 360 degrees,'' said Frank Gehry.

The opening concert’s programme is a reflection of Pierre Boulez’s inexhaustible musical inquisitiveness. The French composer, conductor and visionary, who died in January 2016, was for many years one of Daniel Barenboim’s closest artistic colleagues. 

Image © Volker Kreidler

''Pierre Boulez was not just a great composer and conductor,'' recalls Barenboim, ''he also revolutionized music from the ground upwards. We are dedicating this chamber music room to the spirit of a musical visionary and looking forward to the forthcoming concerts and encounters.''

To provide the required acoustical volume for the hall, Gehry removed the floor slabs and shear walls of the existing Magazin building and only the façade and roof maintained. On the east and south sides, four bays of three windows each connect the hall visually to the surrounding neighborhood and make the space feel like a room in the city. 

Image © Volker Kreidler

Because of this, the interior of the hall reflects the ever-changing Berlin sky. On the west side, another four bays of three openings connect to the four story atrium of the music academy. On the ground floor and first floor, these openings have been converted into sound and light locks, and on the second floor they provide a visual connection between the atrium and the hall.

Frank Gehry designed the balcony like a bridge and tied back into two new concrete shear walls concealed in the north and south façades. The balcony structure is a concrete truss with a trapezoid cross section, with an openness factor of over 35% for acoustics. 

From press conference, Frank Gehry and Yasuhisa Toyota. Image © Thomas Rosenthal

Like a speaker, the open face of the structure is clad with acoustically transparent material that lets the sound pass through and reflect off the main walls of the room.

The walls and the ceiling are made of vertical grain douglas fir panels and their surfaces are slightly undulated in response to the acoustics, and the windows are built out of three layers of glass to achieve sound separation to the street. 

Frank Gehry at the Pierre Boulez Concert Hall is Berlin. Image © Thomas Rosenthal

Barenboim-Said Akademie started planning phase in 2012, construction of Pierre Boulez Hall began in 2014 and in October 2016, BSA welcomed its first class of students. 

Frank Gehry has recently declared he started to teach Online Design and Architecture class within the scope of MasterClass video series-an online education platform organised by San Francisco-based company. 

Top image © Volker Kreidler

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