House of Music

The different volumes and surfaces of the House of Music create an architectural expression suited to the multi-functional and synergetic nature of the building’s activities.

Af Kirsten Kiser

Coop Himmelb(l)au’s final design for the House of Music is organized around the concept of sharing and synergy while recognizing the need for independence of the individual institutions within. Wherever possible sharing of spaces is enabled and overlapping of use of public and performance spaces is supported through the design.

Music, Creativity and Art are the centers of inspiration, both of the shared-synergetic behavior and of the form and expression of the architecture.
— Wolf D. Prix

The Foyer is the main common and public space, connecting the public to the Main Concert Hall and its balconies at ground level and above, and to the Intimate, Rhythmic and Classical Halls below. The front-of-house space of the Foyer is a compact vertical zone oriented at the same time to the Culture Square and the Fjord. This vertical organization provides the most effective multiple-hall front-of-house system for the public.

This typology is adopted to ensure good natural light and optimized views within an economical and efficient system of circulation and to establish close relations to the performance and public space of the House of Music. The open side of the “U” faces the Fjord; the Foyer faces the new House of Music square adjacent to the harbor front promenade.

The design of the site emphasizes both the urban character of the House of Music area in the city and the natural aspects of the Limfjord and Aalborg stream. Both the Cultural Square and the House of Music Square are seen as urban extensions of Aalborg and are connected to the existing pedestrian and traffic systems.