Building Analysis

THE USE OF MATERIALS ANDTHEIR INFLUENCE ON A SPACE

A precedent study on the Elbphilharmonie

ABSTRACT

Imagine a blank surface, a white plaster wall if you want. Imagine what it feels like to touch it, how the light reflects on its surface in a perfect gradient and how your voice bounces perfectly back at you when you talk. Now imagine carving patterns into that wall, it does not matter whether they are geometric or random. The whole character of the wall is now changed. It instantly feels different, either smoother or rougher, but definitely different. Its surface casts shadows in some and maybe even collects light in other places and your echo becomes dull if not fully absorbed. Your interest is peaked because the blank wall is just not what the human mind desires. There is no exploration, no excitement. So why is it, that ornaments in architecture are described as a crime? The contemporary architect prefers smooth looking, easy to understand definitions for the space he creates, but is it not so much more intriguing to step into a room without immediately knowing where the wall ends and the ceiling starts? But how is the transfer between the physical building - its location, construction and materials - and metaphysical - those very specific personal experiences and associations - created? And how are artists responsible for it? In this essay, the relationship between those dimensions will be explored and explained why architecture and art, although being categorically different, need to synthesize in order to create a metaphysical realm that is tangible for the masses.

Frederike Marx

Building Analysis - The Brief - Hamburg needed a unique concert hall that represents its rich culture and musical history whilst showcasing the city’s wealth and international standing. The building was supposed to be a landmark that attracts national and international tourists.

Alexander Gerard, a local city planner and culturalist, proposed a philharmonic hall in place of the planned MediaCityPort, an office building meant to invigorate the old harbour and serve the changing market in media and communication. He contacted Jacques Herzog about a design who agreed under the condition that the building’s new function would be immediately visible from the outside. The existing building was to receive a crown which contained the main spaces of the philharmonic hall, such as the grand hall, chamber hall, restaurants, bars, and a panoramic terrace. Built in apartments and a hotel were integrated to help recover the construction cost. The plan was to create a “genuinely public” (Herzog & DeMeuron 2016) building, which provides mixed urban uses and is a centre for the social, cultural, and daily life of everyone around it. It would vitalise the HafenCity and become part of a new district in Hamburg.

View from the Elbe towards the Philharmonie with the city centre in the background

After three years of persuasion and advertising from Herzog and DeMeuron, the city of Hamburg agreed to have the philharmonic hall built with a budget of 241 million euro. This budget was however far exceeded due to legal battles and multiple delays in construction and eventually cost the city 866 million euro making it one of the most controversial buildings in Hamburg at the time.

The design of the Elbphilharmonie is based on an audio-visual experience that is somewhat supported by other sensory factors such as smell. Furthermore, the surface designs have recurring themes of dots and waves which can be found throughout the building and will be discussed in the Materials and Lighting section below.

The Site - The Elbphilharmonie is located in Hamburg, one of the northernmost cities in Germany, known for its wealth and coastal flair despite being located over 50 miles away from the North Sea. The coastal character of the city comes from the river Elbe which has historically been wide and deep enough to carry ships further inland and enabled Hamburg to develop the most influential harbour for the German economy and therefore to become a trade hub for the country and an extremely wealthy city.

It is also home to one of the most important urban redevelopments in Europe, the HafenCity. Since the Berlin Wall has been demolished, the abandoned warehouses and silos are being repurposed and modernised and the relationship between the city and the harbour is being redefined. The HafenCity will be an extension to the city centre, expanding it by 40% and providing a mix of education, tourism, work, life, and recreation.

Directly on site, the existing building, the Kaispeicher A, has been retained and an additional structure has been added on top. The Kaispeicher A was a brick warehouse designed by Walter Kallmorgen in the 1960s to store heavy loads of tea, cocoa and tobacco and therefore poses an ideal base for the heavy new structure.

The direct proximity to the Speicherstadt warehouse district world heritage site and the Kontorhaus business district adds to the significance of the site in terms of tourism and social life.

In addition to that the site is located on the river Elbe which makes it an attractive tourist destination whilst standing out from the other buildings and therefore forming a landmark that defines the HafenCity.

The Materials and Lighting

The façade - One of the most distinguishing materials of the Elbphilharmonie is the glass façade that is sitting on top of the brickwork of the Kaispeicher A. It is made from approximately one thousand individual elements each of which are made up of four layers with different surface treatments. A dark tint serves as the main sunscreen but is supported by basalt dots casting indistinguishable shadows which ultimately darken the interior whilst the outermost layer of chrome dots reflects sunlight and gives the building its elegant mirror-like appearance. In tandem with the extravagant shading solution is the shape of the glass panes. Their wave-like appearance has been created in a strictly secret process that uses gravity and extremely high temperatures to temper the glass and shape it, forming curved openings that are either used for ventilation or to create balconies for the apartment and hotel complexes.

Facade Panel layering

Glazing openings

Negative pressure being created on the external face

Positive pressure being created on the external face

Fundamentally, the façade is intended to remind the visitor of a choppy body of water through the dynamic surface which reflects its surroundings and is therefore changing continuously. When asked about the complex façade structure, Ascan Mergenthaler, one of the assisting architects for the project, explained that they could not have used normal windows as they would not have lived up to the intended aesthetic.

The Tube The 80-meter-long entrance to the building, known as “the tube”, leads from the front of the building to a public plaza and cuts directly through the Kaispeicher A. It is a straight line that is bent on the y-axis meaning it is impossible to see the whole escalator at once. It is also impossible to see the end of the journey when you first step on it, making the panoramic view at the top more exciting and rewarding. The tube itself is rendered completely in white with glass dots which are later reminded of when seeing the exterior glazing up close.

The very clean and bright journey lasts approximately 150 seconds, the perfect length to create a pause from the busy city life not just visually but also audibly. The tube is isolated, and the journey forced in one direction so that the visitor is able to completely let go of their thoughts for a brief moment before awaking in a new, yet familiar, world. This is also emphasised by the forced proximity of people on the escalator which naturally makes them behave more quietly.

The Tube

Sectional drawing of the tube - entrance to view

Section line

The Foyer - The foyer of the chamber hall which can be entered via the plaza is characterised by the use of black marble and French oak, which is a dark wood Herzog and DeMeuron have also used the in the Tate Modern in London. The materials are untreated to encourage the aging process such as the colour change over time and marks from wear and tear, such as ring stains from glasses left on the tables. Another characteristic pointed out by the visitors is the smell of the wood which is amplified by the use of oil soap for cleaning as it does not destroy the material. In comparison to the tube entrance, the foyer is charming and vibrant instead of sterile, reflecting the lively conversations that will take place in this space.

The Chamber Hall - The warm atmosphere of the foyer is carried into the chamber hall. Just like the foyer, the main material used in the chamber is French oak; however, this time it is milled into waves stretching over the entirety of the walls. This shape helps to diffuse the sound reflect it in a way that makes it pleasing for the listener.

Wood Paneling sound diffusion

The White Skin - The grand hall is quite literally the centrepiece of the Elbphilharmonie. Spanning over multiple floors, it is the biggest single space of the building and the one that attracts the most visitors hosting its own orchestra as well as guest musicians.

As opposed to its little sister, the chamber hall, the grand hall is clad in plaster fibreboards made from a gypsum and paper mix. Although being called white skin, Jacques Herzog describes the surface as biomorph and more similar to that of a crustacean or fossilised shell due to white skin having the negative connotation of dead bodies. The surface texture is engineered to perfectly diffuse the sound and distribute it throughout the space so that every seat has the same audio experience. Yasuhisa Toyota, the project’s lead audio engineer, also specified the material to have the perfect density and hardness to ensure the right amount of sound is absorbed and the nature of the reflected sound is clear and soft. There are no gaps between the plasterboard panels as to not let any sound escape, which was another requirement for the grand hall as it is situated in close proximity to living spaces.

Historically, musical halls were immensely decorated which not only expressed wealth and grandeur but also helped with the sound diffusion discussed above. This ornamentation has been replaced in the new hall by the wave like surface, a recurring theme in the building.

Wood Paneling sound diffusion

Wood Paneling sound diffusion

Grand Hall Lighting - The lighting in the grand hall is an ornamental element with the conceptual intent of creating a warm and vibrant atmosphere that matches the space. Each individual fixing appears as a dot or globe hanging from the ceiling, picking up another recurring theme of the building. Handmade by a family-owned business in the Czech Republic, the globular lights posed a problem to construct as the glass had to be blown in a way that goes against traditional manufacturing methods 18 . In order to capture the light and guide it the way Herzog and DeMeuron intended, the globes had to be thicker at the bottom and thinner towards the fixing; however, in traditional hand blowing, the part furthest away from the pipe (in this case the bottom of the globe) would be the thinnest. This made the manufacture of the lights intensely time consuming and expensive.

All fixings are lit by LEDs which are more environmentally friendly but also usually appear technical and sterile so in order to change this,

Herzog and DeMeuron made the decision to changethe light path directly at the fixing and case the LEDin a glass globe that changes the velocity of the rays,making the space appear gentler and warmer. Dueto the refractive properties of glass, the rays of lightare either reflected at the glass surface ortransmitted through it at a different angle andspeed 19 . Essentially, the rays are being diffused bythe glass casings and their velocity decreased so thatthe lighting is less harsh.

Lighting of the Grand Hall

Traditional cross-section of a globe light made from glass

Required cross-section of the globe lights to create the intended effect