Swiss symphony — In the middle of the Swiss Alps, Studio Seilern Architects has created an ambitious, world-class concert venue that responded to a long list of challenges and restrictions. The final result, the Andermatt Concert Hall, is both a thrilling sensory experience and a key part of this alpine town’s transformation. Words by Veronica Simpson 156 Blueprint 365 2 Sometimes good things come from very inauspicious 1 (previous page) The concert hall interior is beginnings. Asked to transform an underground concrete formed of a complex conference centre into a world-class small concert venue, at geometry of wood panels, designed for the back of a hotel in the Swiss Alps that had already begun optimal acoustics construction, and with only one and a half years in which 2 A narrow, curving to design and build it, many architects would run a mile. foyer is defined by a faceted wall of Christina Seilern of Studio Seilern Architects is clearly made opaque acrylic panels resembling a golden of sterner stu. On a June evening this summer, as the Berlin glacier Philharmonic nished its inaugural programme of Mozart 3 (following spread) and Shostakovich in the new Andermatt Concert Hall, to Daylight from the hall’s high glazing (where rapturous applause, the expression on Seilern’s face — and passersby can peer in) that of her client — indicated that all the challenges were floods the space worth it. The Andermatt Concert Hall announces its presence gently, with a single-storey glazed pavilion on the central public square, Piazza Gottardo, of this small Swiss Alpine town. Suspended inside the curved glass facade are three plexiglass discs, shaped like oating clouds. Their presence is both for acoustic attenuation and sculptural impact — at night, even with no performance going on, they are gently lit to animate the square, as public art. While concerts are under way, any passerby can come right up to the structure and gaze in through the curved windows, enjoying the spectacle. To reach the auditorium one descends into the earth, via a wide staircase, accessed either from the adjacent Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen or from its own discrete entrance. En route, guests are treated to a balcony view of a narrow but glamorous, curving foyer, its interior wall a faceted vertical landscape of opaque acrylic panels — as shiny as a golden glacier. And then the big surprise: entering from either the basement or mezzanine level the auditorium opens around you in a sculptural, expansive, horizontal and vertical sweep of origami-esque wood panels, a complex geometry designed for the ultimate acoustic experience. 1 & 3 – ROLAND HALBE 2 – KANIPAK PHOTOGRAPHY 158 Blueprint 365 Blueprint 365 159 3 160 Blueprint 365 Blueprint 365 161 5 From the central stage, the sound sweeps around in waves, The experience up the main hall, over the balcony and o the sides, enveloping of listening to the audience and the orchestra in perfectly modulated tones music here, as the sun sets over (thanks to acoustic consultant Kahle Acoustics). It’s a full-on the mountains, sensory experience, when daylight from the hall’s high is quite glazing washes over these pale, grooved, oiled oak panels, extraordinary bounces o the plexiglass clouds and bathes both musicians and music lovers in sound and light. The experience of listening to music here, as the sun sets over the mountains, is quite extraordinary — when it’s the Berlin Philharmonic, dubbed ‘the Rolls Royce of orchestras’, even more so. This is not just a new, world-class concert hall in the Swiss Alps — it is actually the only major concert hall in the Swiss Alps. It is a pivotal element in the strategy to transform this town back into the tourist and trading destination it rst aspired to be, in the 19th century as Europe’s leisured classes embraced rst the alpine spa, and then skiing, exploiting Andermatt’s strategic plateau position in the heart of the Saint-Gotthard Massif range. Served by three alpine passes, it is a major crossroads connecting landlocked Switzerland to its European neighbours, aided by strong road and rail connections. Andermatt was in fact the rst town to have a Grand Hotel. 4 But after the Second World War, when Switzerland decided it needed its own army — just in case its allies reneged on their promise of protection — it became a strategically advantageous location for a military base, with 100,000 Swiss troops stationed there annually, served by a town of just over 1,000 people. Who needed ski tourism? Soon Zermatt and other Swiss resorts had far outpaced this town in terms of tourist facilities, despite the charms of its old buildings. However, come the end of the Cold War, Switzerland no longer needed such an army; come the digital revolution, land forces became less important, and the army began a phased withdrawal of troops, which completed at the end of the 1990s. By 2005, the town’s economy and morale were at rock bottom, which is when the regional Uri government invited Egyptian property developer Samih Sawiris to come up with some ideas. Sawiris immediately saw the town’s potential to become a high-quality, year-round tourism destination. Given 100ha of land to play with, he formed a development vehicle, Andermatt Swiss Alps, joined forces with commercial 4 Andermatt is developer Besix Group, and set about masterplanning a new situated in the heart of the Saint-Gotthard district, Andermatt Reuss, next to the old town. When Massif range in nished, it will boast an 18-hole golf course as well as multiple Switzerland hotels and apartments. It kicked o its reinvention in 2013, 5 The stage takes a central position in with the opening of the super-luxurious Chedi Andermatt the space, with the audience wrapped hotel (by architect Jean-Michel Gathy) in the old town, and around. Seilern now there are several chunky, chalet-esque apartment consulted orchestra members on optimal blocks (which can be owned and resold by foreign nationals layouts — something Switzerland rarely allows) surrounding the 6 (following spread) concert hall’s host hotel, The Radisson Blu. Up to 42 of these The concert hall announces its presence apartment blocks are planned overall (comprising 500 in the town with a apartments in total) for this new district, and options for a single-storey glazed pavilion on the central select cluster of 25 or so private luxury villas alongside. square, Piazza Gottardo 5 – MONIKA RITTERSHAUS 162 Blueprint 365 Blueprint 365 163 6 6 – ROLAND HALBE 164 Blueprint 365 Blueprint 365 165 7 ‘Music is not Sawiris has a track record for thinking big. He is Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and foremost representative of linear, music is currently transforming a former desert on the edge of the world-famous Nagata Acoustics. Says Seilern: ‘We met circular. It goes Egypt’s Red Sea into a high-end, sustainable tourism Yasu, and he said to us: “I don’t work on halls that are less everywhere. hotspot, masterplanned along Venetian lines with canal- than 12m high, so unless you give me 12m I’m not interested Therefore you have to put the front living; one of the highlights is a oating, colonnaded in this job.” So that was a very big point. Then [Daniel] music in the conference and cultural complex, complete with concert Barenboim walks into the meeting and at that moment, I middle of the hall, also designed by Studio Seilern. think even Samih was impressed.’ audience.’ Seilern rst heard about Sawiris’ Andermatt concert With the client convinced about height, Seilern knew she Daniel Barenboim hall plans when he asked her if she knew of an acoustician. could achieve her idea of lifting the roof of the hall up and She had just nished an elegant performance centre for creating the aforementioned glazed pavilion; existing planning Wellington College in the UK and had been involved in permission already allowed for one storey above ground level. multiple performance venues, such as Leicester’s Curve With Barenboim, legendary rst conductor of the Berlin Theatre, while she was running Rafael Viñoly’s London Philharmonic, in the room, Seilern decided to broach the oce, prior to setting up her own practice. ‘I had no idea he subject of moving the stage to a more central position was planning a concert hall, at the time. But I said I’d give — away from the more logical ‘shoebox’ position that the him an acoustician if he gave me a job,’ she says. So he concrete bunker’s dimensions suggested (an oblong format, showed her the basic concrete shell of the underground with the audience stacked in rows facing the stage). Says conference centre that had already been constructed at the Seilern: ‘There had been a lot of scepticism about that because back of the Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen.‘The rst thing we everybody knows the shoebox format. People asked me: had to convince him about was the size,’ says Seilern. ‘It was “Why are you changing this, are you trying to be interesting?” only adequate for a small chamber programme.’ I said it’s not about being interesting, it’s about the intimacy Seilern is clearly very well connected, and a serious and sitting close to the musicians and the relationship with music lover. She asked Sawiris to join her in Berlin to see the the audience.’ She knew Barenboim would support her view, new Pierre Boulez Saal, Frank Gehry’s intimate performance as his Saal places the orchestra in the middle with the audience space in the round that is part of the Barenboim-Said all around. So she asked him for feedback: ‘He said: “Music Akademie and which Seilern regards as one of the nest new is not linear, music is circular.