The Berlin Philharmonie, opened in 1963 to plans by architect Hans Scharoun, is home to the Berlin Philharmonic and an icon of postwar architecture. The revolutionary vineyard-style hall, in which the orchestra sits at the centre of the room surrounded by rising audience terraces, became a worldwide model for modern concert halls. Scharoun's core idea of "music at the centre" placed the orchestra in the middle of the hall for the first time — a concept that later shaped the Elbphilharmonie and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, among others. The striking, tent-like curved roof and the golden-yellow façade make the building at the Kulturforum a landmark of Berlin. The Philharmonie is regarded as one of the acoustically and architecturally most important concert halls in the world.
Scharoun won the competition in 1956 with a design so radical that many considered it unbuildable — today the hall, nicknamed "Circus Karajani," is world-famous.
At a glance
- Type
- Concert hall
- Location
- Berlin, Germany
- Address
- Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1, 10785 Berlin
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