Copenhagen, Denmark

Concert House Danish Radio Copenhagen

Jean Nouvel

Architecture is like music..

Building in a new neighbourhood is a risk (a risk that has often proved fatal in recent decades. When it is impossible to use a built environment to evaluate urban potential, it is necessary to turn the question around: what qualities can we bring to this uncertain urban future? How can we, in the worst of cases, meaning almost alone, create in productive conditions ? In an uncertain future, our only choice is to respond using the positive force of uncertainty: mystery ” mystery that is never far from seduction and thus, attraction. If the surroundings are too neutral, it is necessary to create a transition ” a distance that is not a retreat inwards, but a means to establish conditions that allow a specific site to blossom. In other words, it is necessary to enrich the context, whatever it may be.

To accomplish this task, one must first establish a presence and an identity. I propose to materialize the context by creating an exceptional urban facility that respects the configuration planned for the site. It will be a volume leaving you guessing at its interiority, a mysterious parallelepiped, changing according to the night and day lights. At night the volume becomes a place of images, of colors, of lights, expressions of an intense interior life.

The interior is a world in itself—complex and diverse. An interior street lined with shops follows the path of the urban canal; a restaurant and bar spilt into it. The street is dominated by a covered square, a large empty volume beneath wood panels that clad the concert hall like reptilian scales. It is a world of contrasts and surprises, a spatial labyrinth, an interior landscape: on one side, the world of musicians, with courtyards, exterior terraces and various plants. On the other, Piranesian interior public spaces link the different performance halls, the restaurant and the street. Figuration overcomes abstraction; the ephemeral completes the permanent. The facades are diaphanous filters that distant views of the city, the canal and the neighbouring architecture. At night, these facades become screens for projecting images. The architecture asserts itself through details – doors, lighting, ceilings and staircases – a testimony of respect to the building’s visitors, concertgoers and artists. Each place becomes a discovery, each detail an invention: lessons learned from a particular architecture that we must not forget; a discrete homage to Theodor Lauritzen and Hans Scharoun. Architecture is like music. It is made to move and delight us.

Jean Nouvel

CREDITS

ADVISER TO JEAN NOUVEL: Olivier Boissière, Hubert Tonka

CLIENT: DR : Denmarks Radio

PARTNER IN CHARGE: Stefan Zopp (Etudes Preliminary studies / Réalisation Construction)

HEADS OF PROJECT: Frédérique Monjanel (Concours Competition), Brigitte Métra (APS)

LIGHTING DESIGNER: Yann Kersalé

ARTISTIC PAINT WORK: Alain Bony et Henri Labiole

ARCHITECTES (TEAM)

Réalisation / Construction : Michel Calzada, Lotte Adolph, Mitzi Vestergaard, Mette Lyng Hansen, Jolanta Maria Skowronska, Daniel Cajzer, Michal Treder, Mireia Sala Fonte, Charlotte Kihm-Moyer, Abel Patacho, Erich Gerlach, Anna Devigili, Sarah Hearne, Anke Ropertz, Ludovica Barassi, Elena Rojas Danielsen, Sofie Falkentorp, Lorenzo Parrot, Pil Thielst, Michael Giger, Sabine Furger

Etudes / Preliminary studies : Eric Nespoulous, Abdel Hafid Rakem, Olivier Davenier, Mathieu Forest, Marta Grzadziel, Pierre Truong, Claude Godefroy, Cyril Desroche, Toshihiro Kubota, Mette Lyng Hansen, Sophie Gramatica, Lotte Adolph, Charles Bessard, Dan Dorell, Michel Calzada, Mitzi Vestergaard, Gilles Charrier

Concours / Competition : Olivier Davenier, Antoine Bordenave, Alexandre Dumoulin, Mathieu Forest, Marta Grzadziel, Toshihiro Kubota, Philippe Papy, Mitzi Vestergaard. Mickael Zeichardt

GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Natalie Saccu de Franchi, Marie Maillard, Eugénie Robert

ENGINEERS:

Structure : Terrell International S.A.S., Niras
Génie climatique Air conditionning engineering : Flack + Kurtz (UK) Ltd., Terrell International S.A.S, Niras

CONSULTANTS

Acoustique / Acoustics : NAGATA Acoustics INC (Yasuhisa Toyota / Motoo Komoda)
Scénographie / Scenography : Jacques Le Marquet, Ducks (Michel Cova)
Signalétique Interior Signage Concept : L’Autobus Impérial, Paris
HQE HEQ : Pierre Lefèvre
Economie Economy : Davis London Economie, Niras
Ingénieur civil Civil engineer : Niras

LOCAL ARCHITECT: Niels Fuglsang A/S

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Concert House Danish Radio Copenhagen