Dresden Kulturpalast, Dresden, Germany

Program: Auditorium Hall for 1,800 people + facilities
Size: 23,000 sqm
Status: competition 3rd prize, completed in 2009
Credits: MÜLLER-BBM group (acoustic)
BOLLINGER + GROHMANN ingenieure (structural engineer)

The Concert hall and the interior of the building.
Here, free from the straight preservative rules regarding the facades, we really felt the urge (and also felt there was the opportunity) to introduce a “contemporary” vision about public buildings dedicated to the production / fruition of culture. Although the original façade is maintained, the interior space of the building is changed. The design proposal places the new concert hall at the physical and symbolical center of the building, housed in a sculptural, egg-shaped volume that floats inside the open space defined by baufenster’s walls (the walls delimiting the building’s previous concert hall). The walls are returned to an unfinished state using exposed concrete, thus affirming a strong contrast between the smooth, white surface of the “egg” and the connecting “fingers”. This option was chosen to avoid any confusion between the old structure and our intervention.
The inner “piazza”, the area below the egg-shaped volume of the concert hall, is connected to outer space by four accesses. In this outer space various features can perform their activities although the space can also serve more spontaneous and experimental functions, while during concerts, the entire space can be converted into a foyer, broadening the existing foyer spaces to different floors.
The shape of the Concert Hall intends to show a sense of unity inside and out.
The materials used for the external and the internal wall of the shell are completely different:
– the shape of the egg is created on the exterior wall by placing a elastomeric polyurethane membrane on the concrete paneling, created by applying a continuous, crack-bridging spray;
– the interior wall of the concert hall uses the same wood for its floors and the concave “shell”.