AL_A, BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC CONCERT HALL
Designed by AL_A, a firm set up in 2009 by former Future Systems member Amanda Levete, the Belgrade Philharmonic Concert Hall is a landmark project and a powerful landmark for the city of Belgrade and the nation of Serbia. It is the largest cultural investment in the region in recent decades, located on a site of great historical importance: next to the Royal Palace of Serbia at the confluence of two major European rivers and overlooking the Great War Island with all its wild beauty.
The Danube landscape and park setting form the basis of the project. The use of water to reflect the building and surrounding nature evokes the marshy areas that once enabled the Serbian people to thrive in these areas. The design of the Concert Hall and the re-naturalisation of the park in which it is incorporated are focused on reconciliation and harmony between nature and the city, a building and its surrounding landscape, East and West, ancient and modern, and different generations/cultures.
The Belgrade Philharmonic Concert Hall extends over 40,000 square meters and includes four main spaces: a 1,600-seat symphony hall, a 250-seat recital hall, a creative hub, and a podium stage; each with a different character and focused on different musical genres. These four spaces are set around a communal area that forms the heart of the project and means the building design has neither a front nor rear as it opens up to the surrounding landscape.
The
project, winner of an international competition held in 2021 as part of the
UNDP - United Nations Development Programme on behalf of the Serbian
Government, was awarded a building permit this year, thereby marking a new
chapter in the city’s cultural scene.
Client: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), The Government of Serbia; Architect: AL_A; Local architect:Zabriskie; Lead engineer: afaconsult; Landscape architect:VDLA; Acoustics and Theatre Consultant:Arup; Cost consultant: Turner & Townsend; Local structural engineer: Beging; Local MEP engineer: CMD; Facade consultant: Bollinger + Grohmann; Lighting design: Seam Lighting
