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]
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]
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]
The Wiener Musikverein, commonly shortened to Musikverein, is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra.
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 23, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, and 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves, among other purposes, as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The hall is a compromise between a vineyard-style seating configuration, like the Berliner Philharmonie by Hans Scharoun, and a classical shoebox design like the Vienna Musikverein or the Boston Symphony Hall.
The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center is a concert hall located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). Ranked one of the world's greatest orchestra halls, it was designed by architect I. M. Pei and acoustician Russell Johnson's Artec Consultants, Inc. The structural engineers for this project was Leslie E. Robertson Associates, and opened in September 1989.
The Suntory Hall (サントリーホール) is a concert venue in the central Akasaka district of Tokyo, Japan. Part of the Ark Hills complex, it consists of a main concert hall, widely considered one of the finest in the world for its acoustics — indeed Herbert von Karajan called it “a jewel box of sound” — and a smaller side-hall for chamber music. Its roof is an extended, tiered, landscape garden. Construction began in the late 1970s and the facility opened in October 1986.
Leo Leroy Beranek was an American acoustics expert, former MIT professor, and a founder and former president of Bolt, Beranek and Newman. He authored Acoustics, considered a classic textbook in this field, and its updated and extended version published in 2012 under the title Acoustics: Sound Fields and Transducers. He was also an expert in the design and evaluation of concert halls and opera houses, and authored the classic textbook Music, Acoustics, and Architecture, revised and extended in 2004 under the title Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics, and Architecture.
Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall is a concert hall in Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The name is coined from music and za (座)lit. 'seat'. The vineyard-style concert hall, with a capacity of 1,997, was built for the eightieth anniversary of the foundation of the city.
DR Koncerthuset, previously known in English as Copenhagen Concert Hall, is a concert hall designed by Jean Nouvel. It forms part of the new DR Byen complex, which houses the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) and is located in the northern part of Ørestad – an ambitious development area in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Philharmonie Luxembourg, also known officially as the Grande-Duchesse Joséphine-Charlotte Concert Hall, is a concert hall located in the European district in the Luxembourg City quarter of Kirchberg. Opened in 2005, it now plays host to 400 performances each year.
The Philharmonie de Paris is a complex of concert halls in Paris, France. The buildings also house exhibition spaces and rehearsal rooms. The main buildings are all located in the Parc de la Villette at the northeastern edge of Paris in the 19th arrondissement. At the core of this set of spaces is the symphonic concert hall of 2,400 seats designed by Jean Nouvel and opened in January 2015. Its construction had been postponed for about twenty years to complete the current musical institution la Cité de la Musique designed by Christian de Portzamparc and opened in 1995. Mainly dedicated to symphonic concerts, the Philharmonie de Paris also present other forms of music such as jazz and world music.
Shenzhen Cultural Center includes Shenzhen Concert Hall and Shenzhen Library and is located in the Futian district of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It was designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. The vineyard-style concert hall seats 1800 and was opened in 2007.
Yasuhisa Toyota is a Japanese acoustician, who has been chief acoustician for over 50 projects worldwide, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Bard College Performing Arts Center in New York, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. He is the company director and U.S. Representative of Nagata Acoustics of Tokyo.
Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre is a centre for the performing arts located in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. It opened in 1990 and is operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture. There is a concert hall with 1999 seats and a playhouse with 834 seats as well as a number of smaller spaces. Yoshinobu Ashihara was the architect, with acoustical design by Nagata Acoustics.
The Harmony Hall Fukui, formally called Fukui-kenritsu Ongakudō (福井県立音楽堂), often abbreviated as HHF, is a concert hall located in Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
Nagata Acoustics is an international acoustical consultancy firm. In Japan they have been involved in the design of over seventy concert halls, including the Suntory Hall, Sapporo Concert Hall, Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, Kyoto Concert Hall and Hyogo Performing Arts Center; other projects have included the Supreme Court, Tokyo and the sound system for the New National Theatre, Tokyo. Outside Japan they have consulted on the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, the Danish Radio Concert Hall, Helsinki Music Centre, Mariinsky Concert Hall and Opera House, Elbphilharmonie, Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, Bing Concert Hall, and Philharmonie de Paris.
Ishikawa Ongakudō is a concert hall in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It opened in 2001 and has two principal performances spaces: the shoebox-style Concert Hall, which seats 1,560; and the Hōgaku Hall, with a capacity of 720, for traditional Japanese music, kabuki, and bunraku. The walls of the main auditorium are finished with urushi. Yoshinobu Ashihara was the architect with acoustic design by Nagata Acoustics, who trialled their concept with a 1:10 scale model. The organ, with sixty-nine stops, is by the Karl Schuke company. Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa is the resident orchestra.
Okayama Symphony Hall is a concert hall in Okayama, Okayama, Japan. It opened in 1991 and seats 2,001. Yoshinobu Ashihara was the architect, with acoustical design by Nagata Acoustics.
Kyoto Concert Hall is a concert hall in Sakyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. It opened in 1995 as part of the 1200th anniversary celebrations of the foundation of Heian-kyō. The shoebox-style Main Hall seats 1833 and the Ensemble Hall Murata 500. It is the home of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. Arata Isozaki was the architect, with acoustical design by Nagata Acoustics.
Fukushima city concert hall is a concert hall in Fukushima city, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It opened in 1984 and has a shoebox-style auditorium with 1,000 seats and a smaller hall with a capacity of 200. Okada & Associates were the architects, with acoustical design by Nagata Acoustics. The 41 stop organ is by Marcussen.
Casals Hall is a concert hall in Ochanomizu, Tokyo, Japan. It is named in honour of cellist Pau Casals. The hall opened in 1987 as a venue for chamber music and has a shoebox-style auditorium which seats 511. Arata Isozaki was the architect, with acoustic design by Nagata Acoustics. In 1997, for the tenth anniversary celebrations, a 41 stop organ by Jürgen Ahrend was installed.
Sumida Triphony Hall is a concert hall in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. It opened in 1997 and has two auditoria; the main hall, with 1,801 seats; and the small hall, with 252 seats. It is the home of the New Japan Philharmonic. Nikken Sekkei were the architects, with acoustical design by Nagata Acoustics, who tested their concept with a 1:10 model.
