Great Amber Concert Hall in Liepāja is the Popular Choice Winner in international architectural competition
Liepāja Concert Hall, opened in November 2015, has received the Popular Choice Award in the prestigious architectural competition Architizer A+ Awards in the hall/theatre category. The architect of the building is Volker Giencke and the main contractor SIA Merks, part of Merko Ehitus group.
A+Award is one of the most prestigious architecture competition with projects participating from over 100 countries. The winners are chosen by an international jury of 300+ architects, cultural leaders and people who actually hire architects. In the hall/theatre category Great Amber was one of the nominees competing with 4 other projects from China, Norway and Poland.
The concert hall is the new home of Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and with 1024 seats, it is the largest concert hall in the Baltic. In addition to that, the multifunctional hall can be used for dance events, corporate celebrations, rock and pop concerts. The 8-storey complex includes concert hall, rehearsal rooms; the entrance area can be used for public functions and exhibitions. Connected to the main building there is a commercial and administrative wing. Between the main building and the commercial wing of the building, there is a public square.
Liepāja concert hall is also named Great Amber. The decision to build a concert hall in Liepāja was made back in 1896, and in 2015, the concert hall finally became reality. Volker Giencke & Company Architects from Graz, Austria, won the international competition towards the end of 2003. Already exhibited at the Biennale of Venice 2004, Great Amber is a monolithic, cone-shaped, slightly contorted structure with a transparent, amber-coloured facade. This facade envelops the irregular folded work of the concrete structure. According to legend, Liepāja is the city where the wind was born. That is why we designed the building to “lean against the wind”. Amber is intriguingly transparent, especially when it encapsulates an insect – as if it were protecting and caring for a living thing. By comparison, the double-skin façade of the concert hall forms the envelope that provides a microclimate in which the different functions are included as spatial implants: the grand concert hall, the chamber music hall, the experimental stage, music club, and music school as well as the “Civita Nova” as a performance venue and stage for the people of Liepaja.
Light plays a key role in Great Amber too. Reaching high above the roof, 14 mirror-finished reflective tubes flood the concert hall with daylight, creating a unique atmosphere inside. The concert hall can also be adapted for congresses, exhibitions and receptions by elevating the orchestra pit and the stalls. Besides designing unique architecture and equipping the hall with some of the very best acoustics for classical concerts, it had always been our ambition to give Liepāja and its residents a fresh cultural identity with this new concert hall. With the completion of the concert hall as construction will be established Liepāja’s new cultural quarter, and thus its cultural identity as a unique historic event. Compelling in both architecture and content, this symbolic effect emphasises Great Amber’s connection to the city. It is a new landmark of modern Liepāja.
According to Ivo Brālēns, Project Manager of SIA Merks, the implementation of this untraditional and unique project was a test for company´s employees, broadening their cognitive horizons. “The building has been developed in a way that it creates the impression of a can that has been turned upside down. Now as the project is completed, I can say that architect´s idea is extraordinary and daring, nothing like that has been implemented in Latvia before,” Brālēns added. There were used more than 12,500 m³ concrete and 2,300 tonnes of armature. On external facade, which is made from internal and external glazing constructions, it is not possible to find two common glass packages; total amount of glass is 9,500 m².
More information about the competition: http://awards.architizer.com/winners/list/
Additional information and photos about Great Amber: http://architizer.com/projects/great-amber-concert-hall-liepajalatvia/