Harpa concert hall
Harpa - Tónlistar- og ráðstefnuhúsið í Reykjavík ( Harpa - the concert and conference house in Reykjavík ) is the Icelandic name for the opera and concert hall in the capital Reykjavík, which opened in 2011 . The building houses both the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera and, with the facade designed by the artist Ólafur Elíasson , is an architectural attraction and a new symbol of the capital.
history
With investor money, bankers planned to build a great concert hall and convention center as a symbol of Icelandic art and economic power; Well-known architects, acoustics specialists and artists were hired to build the cultural center. But the financial crisis of 2008 brought the project to a standstill; the group of investors went bankrupt and the heavily indebted banks were nationalized. The shell that had been built up to then became public property; the Harpa Opera and Convention Center is now operated by Portus , a company which, through Austurhöfn-TR (East Harbor Comp.) , is 54 percent owned by the Icelandic government and 46 percent by the city of Reykjavík. The building was planned and constructed in its entirety by the Danish architectural firm Henning Larsen in collaboration with the Icelandic architectural firm Batteríið and the artist Ólafur Elíasson. The opening concert with Beethoven's 9th Symphony took place on May 4, 2011 ; The Harpa Center was officially opened on August 20, 2011 as part of the Menningarnótt ( Reykjavík Culture Night ).
Naming
The name was determined in the course of 2009 through a competition. With the help of a call for tenders, for which more than 4,000 proposals were submitted, they looked for an Icelandic name that could easily be pronounced in other languages. The woman's name Harpa (= harp) was chosen. According to other sources, the name goes back to the first month of the Icelandic summer in the Old Icelandic calendar . The month was named Harpa , although it is uncertain whether the month was actually named after the musical instrument. In any case, the beginning of this month was celebrated because the beginning of summer has a special meaning in Iceland, which is far north.
The logo of the concert and congress center also refers to it. It consists of twelve tuning forks arranged in a ring, which stand for the twelve months of the year. At the same time, the logo should represent both the shape of the sun and a snowflake.
The four colors in the logo (silver-gray, blue-violet, fire red and golden yellow) stand for the four large event halls in the house.
- Fire red for Eldborg (fire castle, fire cauldron, the crater of a volcano)
- Silbergrau for Silfurberg (Silberfels, a crystal called Iceland Spar , a birefringent calcite , probably named after the silver-gray rock nose (Silfurberg) on the south side of Ingólfsfjall )
- Blue Violet for Norðurljós (Northern Lights, the famous celestial phenomenon of the aurora borealis )
- Golden yellow for Kaldalón (Kalte Lagune, Kaldalón , a glacier tongue bay in the Westfjords, where the composer Sigvaldi Kaldalóns lived for some time and then named himself after the bay.)
These names also indicate that Icelandic nature served as a source of inspiration when planning the building, as can be seen in the exterior architecture.
Buildings and special features
The 43-meter-high building consists of two slightly offset cuboid-shaped parts with sloping edges. Inside it contains a large concert hall with 1,800 seats and 3 smaller concert halls as well as a conference center with interpreter booths for up to 9 languages. New York acoustic planners have developed a fully automatic system that can be set to optimize any type of music using felt walls and flaps, among other things.
The cladding of the building, which was designed by the Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson , inspired by the different lighting moods on his home island, is striking . It consists of a honeycomb structure made of dichroic glass that reacts to the changing colors of daylight depending on the weather.
“ This color effect glass lets through certain wave ranges of light, others are reflected, so that the color of the glass changes depending on the weather and viewing angle. This lively play of colors is caused by interference layers, firmly adhering metal oxide layers that are applied to a glass plate in a dip coating process. The special glass in yellow, orange and green was used at Reykjavík's concert hall. These colors can be seen in the direct view, in the reflection the respective complementary colors appear . "
Side view of the concert building
View of the harbor
Mirrored ceiling and right double glass facade
Ascent
criticism
Not only because of the high construction costs (approx. 160 million euros; the loan will only be paid off after 35 years) and the modern architecture, the building was initially criticized by the population, but also because of its location. It is located at the old harbor directly on the water, because of its size takes away the light of the city's residents and restricts the view from the city center to the sea and the mountains beyond. Soon, however, the harpa was seen as a symbol of the future and gave Iceland hope to overcome the economic crisis, which happened quickly. Today the acceptance is high not only among musicians and sound engineers, but also among tourists. The latter are attracted by daily midday concerts and architectural tours in several languages.
Awards
- World Architecture Community Award from the World Architecture organization , 2011.
- Arkitekturmässan Award , 2011 (Award for the best public space in a building in Northern European countries).
- Mies van der Rohe Prize 2013 (European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture).
literature
- Wojciech Czaja: Lots of seats for few people . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of September 2, 2011
- Claus Spahn: Reykjavik Concert Hall. Spray from glass . In: The time of August 25, 2011
- Þórunn Sigurðardóttir: Harpa - from Dream to Reality. JPV, Reykjavik 2015. ISBN 978-9-935-11-385-6 Well-illustrated small
volume in English (100 pages) on the history of its origins and construction, supplemented by some concert photos
Web links
- Harpa website (Icelandic)
- Website Harpa (English)
- Harpa - From Dream to Reality A film documentary by the Icelandic TV station RÚV about the history of Harpa (Icelandic)
- Claus Spahn: Spray from glass . In: The time of August 25, 2011
- Agnes Bührig on the opening in dradio on August 20, 2011
- Harpa picture gallery
Individual evidence
- ↑ Austurhöfn-TR (East Harbor Comp.) At: austurhofn.is
- ↑ Litir Hörpu / The colors of Harpa . A photo from the opening ceremony on August 20, 2011 at: flickr (The fully illuminated facade of the Harpa concert hall as part of the Menningarnótt 2011)
- ↑ A photo of the Menningarnótt 2012 fireworks at: flickr (on the left, the facade of the Harpa concert hall)
- ↑ Glittering glass stones by the sea . Österreichischer Rundfunk, August 18, 2010 (Internet access on September 7, 2011)
- ↑ Harpa Skal tónlistarhúsið heita , Morgunblaðið dated December 11, 2009
- ↑ Harpa at: lexis.hi.is (Icelandic)
- ↑ Article excerpt: Harpa's name comes both from the name of the string instrument and the ancient Icelandic name of a month in the old Nordic calendar, which marks the beginning of summer, a period of particular importance in Iceland. in: e-architect
- ↑ Logo of the house at: harpa.is
- ↑ Article excerpt : Harpa's logo was designed by The Icelandic Ad Agency and consists of a ring of outstretched tuning forks. It finds its roots in a classic and universal symbol of music arranged in a way that also resembles the sun or a snowflake. The circular arrangement calls to mind people coming together and represent the 12 months of the year, while the forks' colors symbolize the colors of the different halls. in: e-architect
- ↑ The four halls: harpa.is
- ↑ Layout-like arrangement of the three largest halls in the building at: worldarchitecture.org ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Florian Maier: Concert and Conference Center »Harpa« in Reykjavik . In: Detail, the architects' portal . (Internet access on September 5, 2011)
- ^ Clemens Bomsdorf: New splendor for port cities . ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: art - Das Kunstmagazin , May 16, 2008 (accessed on June 25, 2017)
- ↑ Agnes Bührig: In spite of the crisis . In: Deutschlandradio from August 20, 2011 (Internet access from June 25, 2017)
- ^ Rudolf Hermann: Crisis Overcome. Iceland's interest rates in high spirits . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . November 6, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
- ↑ World Architecture Community Award at: austurhofn.is
- ↑ Harpa Concert & Conference Center in Reykjavik World Architecture Community Awards 9th Cycle at: worldarchitecture.org
- ↑ austurhofn.is
- ↑ arkitekturmassan.se ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Harpa wins European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2013 , accessed on April 30, 2013 (in English)
- ↑ Harpa wins Mies von der Rohe Prize at: icelandreview.com, accessed on April 30, 2013 (in German)
Coordinates: 64 ° 9 ′ 1 ″ N , 21 ° 55 ′ 57 ″ W.