Riga Concert Hall Construction of the new acoustic Concert Hall on the Daugava River jetty near the left bank is scheduled to begin soon. The Concert Hall will provide an outstanding combination of architectural, acoustic and technical qualities. The Concert Hall and the National Library will be located in close proximity and thus will create a new group of cultural objects. The concert hall will not only be an important culture and art centre in Latvia and in the Baltic States, but also a world class object in the architectural and culture context.
The location of the Concert Hall - on the jetty opposite Old Town Riga, has been chosen at an international architects’ seminar.
The sketch projects for the competition were submitted by the following participants: CoopHimmelbau (Austria), Klaus Kada + Gerhard Wittfeld (Germany), Behnisch, Behnisch &Partner Architekten (Germany), Henning Larsens Tegnestue (Denmark), Snohetta (Norway), SZK - Sīlis, Zābers, Kļava (Latvia), "Z4"/ "Standartsituation"/ "B+G" Ingenieure" (Latvia), Archiceture studio by Vents Didrihsons (Latvia), Construction planning office "Arhis" (Latvia) and architects' office "Sarma & Norde" (Latvia).
The international jury of the competition has announced the winner of the public competition for the acoustic concert hall’s sketch projects. It is the project "Lineamentum" made by the architects’ office "SZK – Sīlis, Zābers, and Kļava". Andis Sīlis, the representative of the architects’ offices "SZK - Sīlis, Zābers, Kļava", has expressed gratification regarding the evaluation of their project and its core idea. The designers have tried to respect the specific loacation – the AB Jetty in the river Daugava. The concert hall will consist of 12 dark and clustered rectangle and cubic buildings, which can be interpreted both as the piece of Riga historical buildings and the opaque and shining building on the riverside that promises deeply personal emotional experiences during concerts.
The new acoustic concert hall will be a new home for the Latvian National Symphonic Orchestra, State Academic Choir "Latvija" and the State Chamber Orchestra "Sinfonietta Rīga". The concerts will be organized in two halls, a public zone and private zone for the administration and musicians, rooms for technical supports, a library, archiveS, etc.
The large auditorium will be 2835 square meters in size and have 1400 seats and a stage for 120 musicians. The small auditorium will be 1205 square meters with 350 seats and a stage for 40-50 musicians. The rehearsal hall will be 375 square meters large.
In order to ensure accessibility to the concert hall, the jetty and Trijadibas Street will be linked with a four-lane bridge. There will be the drawbridge for pedestrians from Ķīpsala. From the public transportation stop at Akmens Bridge, pedestrians will reach the building by the ”light construction pedestrian access road”. Under the jetty - a parking lot for 400 vehicles. There will be a special entrance VIP, which will permit the guests to access the reserved seats without crossing communally-used space.
The concert hall will be particularly designated for classical music concerts. The large auditorium will be specially constructed for romantic, symphonic and vocal music performances, meanwhile the small auditorium will be more adapted for chamber music and electronic music. During the daytime it will be an open and animated public space with recording shops, cafes and restaurants.
In the public debate, the Riga City Construction Office received 1272 responses. 995 of them supported the idea of the necessity of the new concert hall.
The construction costs for the concert hall are estimated at about 90 million euro (63 million lats). The calculation has been made by German experts. The building of the concert hall will cost about 56 million euro (39 million lats), the bridge of Trijadibas Street – appr. 5 million euro (3,5 million lats), but the pedestrian bridge to the ”Hansabanka” building is estimated about 1 million euro (700 000 lats).
Financing of the project is planned from state and municipality investments, with attraction of the structural funds of the European Community, in the framework of the public and private partnership and using other sources. Riga municipality undertook to attract financing to 20% of the total costs for construction of the building.
The project is carried out by the state agency ”Jaunie trīs brāļi” under supervision of the Ministry of Culture. |
