Disney Concert Hall In LA Will Finally Open In October (1 Viewer)

[Peter Kline]

Designed by Frank Gehry, this is the interior.

The exterior is also quite something else. Go here for article and exterior photos. It's from NY Times so you'll need to register if you're not a member.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Mr. Kline, sir, I pass by this now-completed (they're putting on the finishing touches) showpiece concert hall for a most-deserving, world-class orchestra every single day on the way into work. It is an amazing engineering and acoustical triumph as well (though an echo is still being traced).

The building looks as if it landed there.

But I've been watching the thing ever since it was the most peculiar, bent-steel skeleton of a building I ever saw started. A colleague of mine in a story of his says the building looks like "sculpture." Hey, that's what the concert hall looked like when she was a skeleton: a piece of modern sculpture.

Incredible coordination and skill brought this project to completion in an amazingly swift time.

 

[Jim_C]

And to think this project was almost scrapped. I believe they got as far as completing the underground garage before the trustees got scared of the buildings radical design. Then Bilbao opened and everything changed. The spectacular press Gehry received for the Bilbao design forced the powers behind the Concert Hall to reconsider and continue construction.

Gehry is currently constructing a huge building at MIT. It's not nearly as radial as some of his other buildings but for Boston it's 'out there'. I'm part of the design team working on a new building across the street from Gehry's so I see it all the time. I can't wait to see how the Boston architectural community responds to it.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

This is owned by Disney?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Lilian Disney and the Disney estate put the most money up front for the project way back in 1987. As Jim notes, it was very nearly scrapped. Interestingly, I am busy copy-editing my colleague's story about Disney Hall this very moment (pub date, Aug. 25). I was again admiring the facade of this unusual structure this morning, standing right in front of it on First Street and Grand in downtown Los Angeles.

 

[Peter Kline]

Look closely and you can see Jack walking past the bulding!

 

[Jack Briggs]

See the corner where all that equipment is sitting? The USPS truck is just to the right on First Street, facing east. The parked equipment is facing south on Grand Avenue. The building to the far right of the frame is the old home of the LAPO, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, wretched acoustics and all.

All that dirt-covered area along Grand where the equipment is parked is now a super-wide sidewalk, completely finished.

 

[Holadem]

Whoa, I didn't know there was actually anything to see in LA! .

--
H

 

[Jack Briggs]

Lots and lots and lots of things to see here, bro'!

 

[Jason Merrick]

Jack,

I work right down the street from the Disney Concert Hall as well... where do you work, the Times?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Actually, at another news daily intended for the legal community (in addition, we publish numerous business titles and a real estate publication). We're just east of Little Tokyo.

 

[Jason Merrick]

Cool... I am just west of Little Tokyo at the corner of 1st & Los Angeles... small world, eh?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Ever go into Little Tokyo and see the Space Shuttle model erected there in memory of the late astronaut Ellison Onazuka (who died on the ninth and final flight of the Challenger)?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I did Jack. Beautiful sculpture. A wonderful pitstop on my way to Kinokunya books Least I know where to find you next time I'm in LA

 

[Michael*K]

Gehry's got an outdoor band shell under construction right now here in Chicago. Kind of fascinating to watch the intricate frame the ironworkers have had to construct to help mold the curled metal form.

 

[Seth--L]

Eh, I think that the recently opened Verizon Hall in Philadelphia looks much nicer (includes reverberation chambers and a moveable ceiling so that the hall can be properly adjusted based on the size of the orchestra performing.)




More pictures at: http://www.rvapc.com/flashindex.html under "Kimmel Center."

 

[Jack Briggs]

That is a fascinating hall, Seth! What are the critics saying about the acoustics?

Your orchestra, of which some critics have said is the finest in the world (they certainly did during Ormandy's day), does deserve the finest-possible concert hall (as does our LAPO! ).

 

[Seth--L]

The critics passed judgement on the acoustics on opening night which was both wrong and daft, saying that they were just average. All concert halls need time to be broken in - Verizon's foundation isn't expected to settle for another five years. The orchestra is also still experimenting with the reverberation chambers and ceiling, and changing the layers of polyurethane on the risers between seasons.

Since the Hall opened in Jan. 2002, there has been steady improvement in sound. Many industry folk are convinced that in a few years Verizon Hall will be recognized acoustically as one of the 2 or 3 best in the world.

Right now the sound is extremely clear and transparent. The main problem is that the violins aren't being projected into the hall has well as they should, and that natural balance of the hall favors the brass.

Another interesting thing to note about the Hall is that it resides inside the Kimmel Center, which as you can see in the picture, has a vaulted glass roof - it's very cool to be inside of it.

 

[Holadem]

All concert halls need time to be broken in

Please explain. Broken in as in changes to structural integrity over time which would improve the sound like say speakers and *shudder* receivers? Sorry if the question sounds stupid, but I have heard stranger things from audiophiles.

--
Holadem

 

[Jason Seaver]

Gehry is currently constructing a huge building at MIT. It's not nearly as radial as some of his other buildings but for Boston it's 'out there'.

What's the address? I regularly cut through MIT between the movie theater and the grocery store, and there's a lot of construction going on, but I haven't seen anything really unusual.

But, yeah, they're not exactly architecturally adventurous around here; we loves ourselves our brick.