中文

 Steven Holl Architects

OSTRAVA CONCERT HALL

Ostrava, Czech Republic 2024

Description +

PROGRAM: 1300-seat concert hall, 490-seat theater hall, 515-seat multifunctional chamber, education center, lecture hall, recording studio, cafe, restaurant, lounges

CLIENT: City of Ostrava for the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra

SIZE: 139,932 sf new building; 215,280 sf renovation

STATUS: construction

First Place in Competition, 2019

The 1,300-seat concert hall for the city of Ostrava, Czech Republic, is the new home for the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, the leading Czech symphony orchestra. Established in 1954, the orchestra plays over fifty concerts in Ostrava annually, and frequently performs in international tours and festivals.

The new concert hall “jumps over” the existing House of Culture, preserving and renewing the original 20th-century, classical building. The new entrance hovers over a pedestrian esplanade. Its cantilevered steel structure invigorates the formerly vibrant industrial district and transports concert goers above the historic House of Culture into a new sky-lit lobby. The main concert hall is sited to face the existing park to the north, thereby minimizing noise from the boulevard to the south.

The concept of a “perfect acoustic instrument in its case” informs the new design. The main concert hall, organized in an extended vineyard type plan, is made of maple wood like a great violin and provides ideal acoustics. Architecture, like music, is an immersive experience.Czech composer and namesake of the Philharmonic Leoš Janáček’s theories of time give order to the concert hall’s interior geometry. Acoustic wall panels are organized according to Scasovani, or rhythm, in three variants:

  1. Znící = sounding
  2. Sčítací = counting
  3. Sčelovací = summing

Sound-absorbing scratch coat plaster and raw crinkled concrete complement the sonic and haptic experience.

The steel “case,” the exterior volume of the building, is clad in lightweight zinc in complementary contrast to the ceramic tile and travertine base of the existing House of Culture. The pre-patina, blue-grey zinc is a one hundred percent recyclable material and can flexibly conform to the building’s curved geometry.

Efficient interconnections between the two structures allow the old and new to work in harmonic symbiosis. In addition to the new main hall of 1,300 seats, other venues include the theater hall (490 seats) and multifunctional chamber (515 seats). The education center (with a capacity of 200) and lecture multifunctional hall (120 seats) expand the Philharmonic’s educational and public programs. A recording studio, spaces for leisure activities and facilities, cafes, restaurants, and lounges further enrich visitor experience before and after the show.

Glass walls and skylights infuse the building with natural light and lessen reliance on nonrenewable energy. Visitors are embraced within a light-filled ambient environment that changes organically throughout the day and seasons. At night, the space casts soft light onto the esplanade and park.

The concert hall is geothermally heated and cooled via 120 wells. The new ecological architecture points to Ostrava’s future and is a driving force of the city’s strategic plan to revitalize public and cultural space in the city center while positioning Ostrava as a global music destination via a new iconic landmark for the Czech Republic.

Ecological Innovation +

– 120 geothermal wells provide renewable heating and cooling
– Pre-patina, blue-grey zinc 100% recyclable cladding
– Sound-absorbing scratch coat plaster and raw crinkled concrete

Videos +

  • The way to the Ostrava Concert Hall

Credits +

  • architect

    - Steven Holl Architects

    Steven Holl (principal)

    Olaf Schmidt (partner in charge)

    Lirong Tan, Dimitra Tsachrelia (project architect)

    Filipe Taboada, Sarah Schlegelmilch, Paul Hazelet, Maxwell Funk, Apostolos Gredis (design team)

  • associate architects

    - Architecture Acts

    Hana Petrikova, Martin Kropac (principal)

    Klara Zugarova, Miarianna Antoniadoi, Hana Hucikova, Tiziana Tasca, David Lasek (design team)

  • acoustical consultant

    - Nagata Acoustics

  • structural engineer

    - TYLin | Silman Structural Solutions

  • sustainability

    - Transsolar KlimaEngineering

  • theatre consultant

    - Theatre Consultants Collaborative

  • traffic

    - Jan Fiala

  • fire protection

    - Petr Havlicek

Quotes +

  • Jan Žemla, Director of the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava "In 2018, the City of Ostrava took a major step: an international architectural competition with a clear goal–to breathe new life into the site and the current cultural house and to create an adequate cultural and social facility in Ostrava with world-class acoustic, technical and architectural parameters. These requirements were met by the project of the studio of the world-famous architect Steven Holl. I believe that the positive impact of this project, which is unprecedented in the Czech Republic, will be crucial for the development of Ostrava. Ostrava will indelibly put itself on the cultural map of Europe."
  • Krzysztof Ingarden, Jury Member “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.”

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