National Auditorium of Music
Spain CCC ES
José María García de Paredes
1988
Type
Theatre
Tags
cultural facilities, Spain ccc
Visitability
Allowed
Description
The refurbishment of the Teatro Real opera house, which was a concert hall at the time, led to the construction of the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid. The site chosen for its construction was a rectangular plot on Príncipe de Vergara street. The internal layout of the Auditorium is little influenced by the location but very much by the narrow geometry of the site, which had to accommodate a complex musical programme within a compact volume. The exterior of the building exhibits a sober and deliberately timeless architecture. It runs parallel to Príncipe de Vergara street, and its façades feature uniform patterns that coincide with the perimeter galleries that run from end to end of the building, conceived as flat and continuous surfaces. The irregular volume of the concert hall rises above this base of brick, granite and Colmenar stone – traditionally used in Madrid – silhouetted like a prow on the ceramic roof. Within the strict layout of the floor plan, the rooms, each with its own geometry, flow within the disciplined rectangular volume, allowing perimeter continuity through exterior galleries between the two large foyers at either end. In this way the rooms are properly isolated from the outside: a musical instrument inside a large box.Music and the geometrical principles of acoustics are the guiding principles of the Symphony Hall. Most of the audience sits in front of the orchestra. The rest surround the orchestra from the sides and from behind, occupying two small stands on either side of the organ. The various tiers of seating wrap around the stage at different levels, bringing the spectator closer to the orchestra and reducing the scale of the huge space. The programme is completed by the chamber music hall, which features a similar geometry and materials: walnut wood ceilings and vertical, inclined walls in light colours.(Description provided by the architects)