World Architecture News - Wednesday 28 May 2008
Grafenegg Castle Concert Hall opens near Vienna - Austria has seen the opening of a major cultural facility this month. The Concert Hall at Grafenegg Castle near Vienna has opened with an expected 50 000 – 65 000 visitors per year.
Designed by architects schulte-ladbeck the building is an integration of classical architecture with contemporary copper-cladded auditorium sandwiched between the original buildings. The copper merges sensitively with the red-brick of the central courtyard and offers the building a continually evolving face rapidly depending on the time of day and slowly with age.
The project began in 2005 with an EU-wide competition, then out of the vast number of applicants the jury selected five internationally acclaimed architect offices. The brief given was to integrate a Concert Hall for 1,300 visitors into the protected "Old Riding School" of Grafenegg Castle. The solitary building which is connected to the "Old Riding School" by a glass corridor, was rewarded with the 1st price for its historically sensitive and visionary planning.
From concept to completion the project took less than 3 years; construction works started in spring 2007. The meeting of time-honored Grafenegg Castle and the German architects schulte-ladbeck should become a "liaison créative", a creative connection being synergetic and innovative. The architect duo is famous for planning Concert Halls. Dortmund Concert Hall / Philharmonic for Westphalia, also planned by architects schulte-ladbeck, belongs to the ten best concert halls worldwide. With the Auditorium they created an unforgettable cultural building which will be part of the famous Grafenegg Music Festival.