The lack of urban incentives on the site where L’Auditori was to go up was what convinced the architect that the building had to be autonomous, and that the rules of the game created by its architecture would have to create the conditions for its construction while meeting the requirements of a program that was broad and at the time not too well defined. This explains the importance given to the lantern providing access to the two auditoriums required. This lantern, the ‘twisted cube’, thus became the origin of coordinates for raising a building that unfolds upon a regular structure closed with self-rusting steel panels. Steel gives way to wood in the interiors, not only in the auditoriums but also in the rooms. As for the features of the auditoriums, suffice it to say that the larger one, seating 2,400 and designed for symphonic music, shows Moneo’s debt to Scharoun’s concert hall in Berlin, while the smaller one for chamber music tries to present itself as a more intimate, private space. With both auditoriums sharing facilities, this building was a pioneer in trying out a relationship between performance spaces and services: using the basement freed up the access to the halls, which was a real novelty.
Lepanto Street/Ribes Street. Barcelona. Spain
Barcelona Auditorium Consortium
Audiotorium
Rafael Moneo
María Fraile (Project architect)
Lucho Marcial (Architect on the site)
Mauricio Bertet (architect)
Mariano Molina (architect)
Mónica Company (architect)
Filip de Wachter (architect)
Michael Bischoff (architect)
Astrid Peissard (architect)
Structural: Mariano Moneo Vallés
Mechanical Engineer: J.G. y Asociados
Acoustical Engineer: Higini Arau
Models: Juan de Dios Hernández y Jesús Rey
Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas. Ferrovial (Excavation, finishes symphony hall and lantern) Asca (Urbanization)
40.000 m2
